Forbidden
by Jules8
Summary: Trapped on a planet even the Goa'uld fear to step onto, SG-1 find themselves fighting for their lives and their sanity.


Stargate SG1  
  
Forbidden  
By Julia Reynolds  
  
  
Rating PG-13  
This takes place towards the middle of Season 2, and the reader should be familiar with the series to this point.  
Disclaimer:- Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER ONE  
  
  
The Gate's defences came on line almost immediately. About as much time as it took the three travellers to gain their composure, walk forward twenty feet or so and stop. Then all Hell broke loose. Short bursts of random firepower, the like of which they'd never encountered before, first encircling the Gate and then aimed directly at the DHD. The aim was simple. Stop the incoming travellers from returning through the Gate before it closed.   
  
The team had little time to react. They'd had no warning from the probe that this awaited them.   
  
"The rocks, then hit the deck!" O'Neill shouted as he pushed Daniel ahead of him and ran, Carter close to his elbow in pursuit, her sharp intake of breath as she ran, ringing in his ear.  
  
They raced for the large boulders lying well beyond the Gate and its DHD, and diving for cover they waited, panting and shocked. Within seconds the firing stopped. They raised their heads to look. Their recon truck lay, a crumpled wreck, on its side, its contents strewn in front of the Gate.   
  
"Damn it!" muttered Sam Carter, as she gulped for air. The experimental equipment she'd brought on the trip was nowhere to be seen. She felt strangely winded and a little sick but in reality had little time for the discomfort she was feeling.  
  
Within seconds the new terror started.  
  
Laser beams cutting back and forth, searching out their prey, cutting through rock and moving closer to them. They couldn't see the physical source although it seemed to be coming from the gate, and they couldn't risk returning fire and end up destroying the DHD or the Gate's mechanism. With reluctance, the three crawled further away. Every five minutes the beams swept further out, forcing the team to move away again..and again. Soon the Gate was a speck in the distance and so were the three travellers. Away from the Gate and away from their only route home.   
  
Only one question lay frozen on each pair of lips.  
  
"Where's Teal'c?"  
  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Samantha Carter raised her fingers and brushed away the droplets of moisture that had steadily formed under her hairline as she walked. She periodically glanced at Colonel Jack O'Neill as he moved forward through the rocks some distance ahead of her. The heat had become almost unbearable during the last hour, and the pack on her back had felt more than its usual burden but she knew they had to move forward. They had to find shelter before the darkness descended. They had to keep moving and avoid being prey for any hungry predators who spied an easy meal. That's if there were predators.  
  
So far they'd seen nothing. So far they'd seen no one. Yet the Gate had been armed, and at one point she'd felt a presence so close she'd voiced it to the others. One sceptical look from her Commanding Officer since the terrain around them appeared to be deserted for miles and one of..... She couldn't make out Daniel's feelings. He heard what she said, seemed to understand her fears but he didn't respond, other than to shoot her a sympathetic look. She'd shrugged mentally and filed their responses under "that woman's intuition again".  
  
Pushed away from the Gate by the laser shots, with the night sky on the horizon, they had had no option other than to seek out shelter, but the planet surface afforded little to choose from. The barren orange terrain stretched for miles in every direction, broken occasionally by tiny wooded areas, the sparse trees reaching fingers towards the skies as if in supplication for some nourishment. The desolation and emptiness were oppressive and humbling, providing a mixed feeling of awe and desperation.  
  
Daniel Jackson ambled along behind O'Neill, his boots shuffling occasionally. Even his sunglasses weren't able to keep the glare off his eyes totally.  
  
"Okay people. We aim for that cluster of trees before we break for the night and consider our options." O'Neill raised his one hand for them to stop and pointed with the other. "Of course, if any of you more hardy souls feel like going further I'm not going to stop...."  
His voice trailed, as Daniel put his hand up in protest and sat down heavily on the floor for a second.  
  
Sam followed the Colonel's finger and, shielding her eyes with her one hand, she could just make out a small dark cluster of trees in the distance, some two miles from their position.  
She nodded her ascent and then dropped the pack from her back momentarily, letting it fall gently to the hard surface. As she straightened her back and stretched her arms far above her head she felt a sharp stab of pain. She winced inwardly. She'd felt it before, when they'd reached the Stargate on this side. She hadn't bothered mentioning it. It didn't seem anything more than a muscle spasm in her side. She'd pushed it aside and forgotten it, especially since Teal'c had been right behind them and then hadn't turned up this side of the gate, and they were all more than worried. Her Commanding Officer had slightly more on his plate than her twinge or two, like the Stargate becoming a hostile place to be close to and them having to move away as quickly as they could. She decided to try to ignore it. If she could.  
  
"You okay, Carter?"   
  
O'Neill's concerned voice wafted across towards her.   
  
She nodded and forced a smile. "Just a twinge," she said. "I think I wrenched my side when we fell behind the rocks," she added convincingly. She wasn't lying, just not admitting anything. It was too early for her to admit she was even slightly worried.  
  
"Sure that's all?" O'Neill pushed further as he watched his officer straighten up in obvious discomfort. She nodded her head adamantly, but silently, trying to squash any concerns he might think to have.  
  
She caught Daniel's eye and knew from his quizzical look that he suspected more, but she looked away. Unusually she felt unable to meet his eyes and engage in more conversation than was necessary. She didn't want to admit to anything. She pulled her pack onto her back and straightened up. The pain subsided slightly, though the nausea remained. She looked over at the trees in the distance wistfully.   
  
Daniel stared at her for a single moment and then moved forward.  
  
"Jack, I think something's wrong with Sam," Daniel whispered in a low voice, as he caught up to his friend.   
  
"Could be," Jack's eyes stayed firmly fixed on the trees in the distance, not glancing once at Daniel.  
  
"You're not worried?" Daniel persisted, surprised.  
  
"Oh, she'll let me know if it's going to cause us any trouble. When she's worried, then I'll be," Jack replied, his voice as low as he could make it, still staring ahead of him.  
  
Daniel was surprised at the lack of concern. His reply gave no more information other than to confirm his own suspicions, but Daniel knew that if Jack knew more he wasn't going to say. Not yet. Not unless it became necessary. They both knew her too well to question her further just yet. She was strong. Strong enough to either get through whatever it was alone or finally ask for their help. Jack knew more than he did how stubborn she could be. She was an officer after all. She had a right to privacy and to respect...for the moment. While it didn't endanger the team she was entitled to at least that.  
  
"Sure, whatever you think," Daniel said, giving up for the moment, but keeping a wary eye on Sam.  
  
Jack nodded, smiling, and turned to pat him on the shoulder. "Then we agree on that," he said, and turned back to concentrate on the walk ahead of them.  
  
Daniel knew he'd have to cope with his worries alone. Jack was taking responsibility for getting them out of danger for the night. He was focused. Daniel understood that, he just couldn't be like it himself. Too many questions unanswered and too many worries. Damn it, he need to talk to someone and both his friends had their barriers up.  
  
Jack turned to continue his walk, glancing briefly at Carter before he regained his pace. She was still walking, ignoring their pause in pace, her head bowed down. Jack gritted his teeth and moved his pack into a more comfortable position. He was worried about Carter but he knew she'd let him know if there was something he should know about. He'd thought things were bad when Teal'c failed to come through the Stargate. The Stargate being a sudden no-go area was one thing, but Jack had a gut feeling that if things were bad right now, real bad, they weren't looking to get much better.  
  
*****  
  
Teal'c stayed calm yet his insides were screaming that he needed to help them. They were in trouble, real trouble and he felt helpless.  
  
Dr Janet Frasier shook her head and sighed.  
"You came that close to losing it, Teal'c," she said, making a small pinch with her fingers to emphasise her statement. "If you'd been able to pass through the planetary gate, I doubt the Goa'uld inside you would have survived, and my scans of the parasite tell me you'd have felt more than just the pain, you'd have died." The simple end to her sentence merely added weight to what Teal'c had already guessed.  
  
"What the Hell happened in there?" she asked as she signed off the entry on his chart.  
  
Teal'c turned to look at her, his face impassive.  
  
"I am unable to say." He replied. "If I had known what the gate led to, Doctor. If I had known what awaited them. I would have given my life to prevent them from passing through," he said quietly, taking her eyes and holding them intensely.  
  
General Hammond walked into the room on the tail end of the conversation. "And you'd have died, Teal'c. No one could have guessed the gate would do to you what it did. The others passed through it with no problem. No one could have foreseen what happened. The probe sent back no such warning. The planet looked hospitable, not dangerous. The gate looked stable. Teal'c, this is no time for regret, it's time to think. I'm relying on you to give us some answers."   
  
General Hammond eased himself back into his chair and eyed the Jaffa with some degree of sympathy. He knew he was just aching to go after his team, to help them. Damn it, so was he. The situation was impossible. This gate, this planet was different. Different from anything they'd ever encountered before. He didn't know what to do. His hope lay with Teal'c and his knowledge of the Goa'uld, of the possible technology which could have prevented a Jaffa from exiting the Gate at the other end. Yet, seemingly Teal'c wasn't going anywhere near it. Not yet any way.   
  
*****  
  
The clearing was cooler, though it was obvious from the paucity of branches, that the trees themselves would afford little shelter from the full glare of the sun during the day. The night sky though had darkened faster than Carter could have imagined it would. She glanced at O'Neill and admired his leadership, his focus. He'd known they'd need shelter and he'd walked until he found it. But underneath the cool calm exterior she knew he would be desperate. Desperate to get back to the gate and find Teal'c. Desperate to find his friend and desperate to get them back through the gate and home.  
  
He stood, a silent, thoughtful figure gazing out across the planet surface. A heavy shroud had descended across the horizon and within minutes the entire landscape was plunged into a thick silky blackness, impenetrable and cold.  
  
As she broke off pieces of another dead branch and added it to the pile forming the mound on the ground in front of her, she felt the stab of pain again. This time her head seemed to be on the verge of bursting and her insides wrenched with the spasm. She caught her breath and dropped the wood to the floor.  
  
"Damn...." She whispered as she stooped to the ground to push the dropped wood together into a pile. She knew things were getting worse. She'd have to tell the others soon. This was something she couldn't control and it frightened her. She felt a desperate ache wash over her. It came from nowhere and surprised her. It filled her with an unfamiliar dread. She couldn't be getting sick, not on this world, not when they couldn't get back.  
Putting her knee to the floor eased the pain and she settled into a kneeling position for comfort. She swiftly wiped her hand across her forehead, pressing it as she did so to ease the feeling in her head. The speed of the movement was meant to mask its intention, conceal it from the others briefly so that she could gather her thoughts and explain to them how she felt. She needn't have worried.  
  
"Captain. Take a break. That's an order." O'Neill's voice barked the order across the clearing and she nodded silently as she leaned backwards and closed her eyes momentarily. Nothing passed the Colonel, nothing.  
  
*******  
  
"Sam, come on. Come on, Sam...."   
Misty images, dark halos around them. Hands which were encouraging, and supported her. Sam couldn't feel much. She could see even less. She seemed to be floating and yet she knew that she wasn't. She could hear the voices, she knew their owners. A warmth of recognition jogged at her, nudging her into consciousness, nudging her back. The pain shot through her again and she gasped, throwing her eyes open ...staring into the faces of her two friends, concern etched across their features. She struggled to sit up, pushing them away. She desperately needed to be away from this place. She needed to get back to the Stargate. She needed to escape...she needed to live. To live. The thought had hit her, unbidden. Where had that one come from? She was confused, disorientated somehow. The pain took one last stab at her and then subsided, its crescendo complete, its spasm ebbing. Sam let out a deep breath and leaned back against O'Neill who had reached across to lift her into a sitting position.  
  
"What was that?" she asked weakly but angrily as she closed her eyes and let the throbbing pass over her.  
  
"We kind of hoped you'd tell us," Daniel suggested, dropping to his haunches beside them both and reaching to brush her hair off her forehead where it had matted into a single strand with the sweat and the exertion which pain brings.  
  
"I don't know. Oh boy, I just closed my eyes, that's all," she replied as she pushed herself upwards and massaged her temples ruefully.  
  
"You got any warning of this?" Jack said as he eyed Sam with interest.  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"Back at Command? Nothing?" he persisted.  
  
"No. Only when I came through the Gate. Here on the other side. Just some nausea and then pain. No warning. Just pain. But it wasn't this bad." Sam watched O'Neill as he stroked his chin and then rose to his feet again.  
  
"Okay kids. What have we got? Teal'c vanishes in the wormhole. Carter here has got sick ever since we came through the damn Gate, plus the Gate itself seems to have taken an instant dislike to us since we arrived. We've lost our equipment and we've seen no signs of civilisation. Questions from anyone? Answers maybe?" O'Neill looked from one to the other.   
  
"There could be a connection between Teal'c's disappearance and Sam's sickness," Daniel suggested, as he too rose to his feet. The darkness was all encompassing, their faces lit only by the gentle flames of the small fire they'd managed to light.  
  
"Be my guest.." offered O'Neill as he broke a twig and absently slung it into the fire, the burst of energy from the fire illuminating his face for a single moment as it was consumed.  
  
"Teal'c is a Jaffa, Sam isn't," Daniel continued.  
  
"Pardon me? Isn't that a difference?" O'Neill retorted. "Not quite what I had in mind," he continued.  
  
"Yes, but to find the connection we have to eliminate the differences first," Daniel explained patiently and quietly.  
  
"Sure, whatever. Go right ahead," agreed O'Neill reluctantly.  
  
"While Teal'c is Jaffa and Sam isn't, they do have one thing in common."  
  
O'Neill raised an eyebrow in query. "And what might that be?"  
  
"They both played host to a Goa'uld. Teal'c right now and Sam a few months ago," Daniel offered. "Given that Sam no longer is a host, her connection with the Goa'uld is less obvious, more diluted somehow, but Teal'c's isn't." Daniel caught Sam's eye and saw her nodding.  
  
"Sir, perhaps Teal'c's Goa'uld couldn't get past the Gate somehow." Sam continued for Daniel as she raised herself to her feet reluctantly.  
"My connection with Jolinar is weaker so the Gate let me pass but wouldn't let me go altogether unaffected. We know there is a connection still there. Remember when we tried to find Thor's power? A part of the Goa'uld is still somewhere inside me." She wasn't sure that the explanation was the one she wanted to hear but at least it was an explanation.  
  
"Yes, but it doesn't make sense that you're getting worse this far from the gate if it's the gate that caused it," interrupted Daniel.  
  
Sam shrugged.  
  
"So, let me get this straight," O'Neill postured. "Teal'c was the lucky one and we think he's either still in the wormhole - which, well forgive me for getting down here, would be pretty unlucky - or maybe, well gee, let's get real optimistic now, if he's real lucky, back at Command." O'Neill looked from one to the other "How am I doing so far?" he said.  
  
Daniel nodded his accord.  
  
O'Neill raised his eyebrows and then continued. "But now we come to the good news. Hey, Carter's the unlucky one because she came through the wormhole but it punished her by making her sick and God knows what else. Daniel my boy, you've got to stop being so helpful," he finished lightly. "People, what happened about solutions? We need to get back past the Gate's defences and through it."  
  
Daniel took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses, not wanting to meet either Jack or Sam's eyes. Sam looked down.  
  
"In fact, do you think the damn Gate will let any of us near it at all? It sure seems to have taken it into its head that we're its enemies. If we fire on it, we could destroy it. If we go near it, it fires on us." O'Neill paused.  
  
"Well, the gate defences may be triggered by incoming travel and not by outgoing. We'd have to try to get near it to see. Trouble is whoever tries it probably won't survive." Daniel offered.  
  
"Gee Daniel, thanks. Just what I wanted to hear." O'Neill stopped, seeing both their bowed heads. He bit his lip. His frustration and fear were getting a good outlet here. He'd pushed too far.  
  
"Sorry. Don't know where that one came from," he muttered.  
  
"Everyone's kind of riled, sir. But you can't blame Daniel just because he doesn't have the answers" Sam volunteered quietly.  
  
"Sure, sure. I know that. Don't shoot the messenger or something like that, isn't it?" O'Neill said as he raised his hand to stop the protests.   
"Sure doesn't make it any easier to swallow though, does it Captain?" he added and gazed out into the darkness.  
  
*****  
  
Dark eyes watched the trio with interest and desire. Eyes that hungered for their passion, their sheer humanity. Most of all, their compassion for one another. Starved of ready victims to torment, the eyes watched eagerly...and waited for the chance to strike at last.  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER TWO  
  
Teal'c stood silently at the table and watched the monitor. The Doctor and General Hammond were peering intently at every frame, trying to glean some information, trying to see how Teal'c's glimpse of the planet could possibly equate with what they were viewing from the original probe's camera.  
  
"Is there any chance that somehow we dialled up the wrong planet when we sent SG1 through?" Janet Frasier asked hopefully. She knew the answer.  
  
General Hammond shook his head. "The computer records have been checked thoroughly. No mistake."   
  
"The planet which you see from the probe's camera is the same planet that I tried to enter through the Stargate. It is the same planet that Colonel O'Neill, Daniel Jackson and Captain Carter are now on." Teal'c stated clearly.  
  
"But from what you described seeing just before you returned, even though it was a brief glimpse through the vortex, it's totally different. You describe a barren looking, inhospitable surface. The probe's showing lush forests and a good climate. All the readings came up positive for supporting life. The probe went in for a second look only minutes before we sent you. It's just not possible," Hammond persisted.  
  
"It is the same," Teal'c replied.  
  
"Teal'c, do you have an explanation?" Hammond asked hopefully.  
  
"It would not be easy for me to tell it," Teal'c said simply, his eyes still and dark, avoiding contact with the others and averted from the monitor.  
  
The doctor and General exchanged quizzical looks.   
  
"Teal'c, if you know something about this planet then you have to tell us," the Doctor persisted. "SG1's lives may depend on it."  
  
"SG1 may no longer exist." Teal'c took the General's eyes and held them.  
  
The Doctor raised herself from her chair and dropped her pen to the table in frustration.  
"Wait a minute, you don't know SG1 are dead. You didn't see them die. Do you think Colonel O'Neill or any of the others would give up on you like this? I've never seen you act like this before, Teal'c, just giving up on them."  
  
"We have never before visited P3F231, Doctor. General Hammond, I would like permission to rest," he added and looked at the General meaningfully.  
  
General Hammond nodded his head and put his hand up to ward off the Doctor's inevitable protests.   
  
"You have thirty minutes, Teal'c. I want you back in thirty minutes. Then I want some answers. Is that understood?"  
  
Teal'c turned to look at the General and then walked towards the door slowly. He paused before he left the room.  
  
"When I return, if I can, I will tell you what I know of this place. If you choose to believe it you will understand why I was unable to help my friends, and you may choose not to help them either," he said as he closed the door behind him.  
  
*****  
  
The rain came down slowly at first, then hard, driving it into their skin, their hair and their clothes. Dawn was a mere pinprick of illumination on the horizon, but at least the darkness was easing slightly. After the heat of the previous day, the cold of the early hours bit into every inch of exposed skin.  
  
Sam shivered and pulled her jacket around her. No one had had much sleep.  
"Guess we should have expected this," she muttered ruefully.  
  
"Sure. What else could this damn place throw at us," agreed O'Neill.  
  
"You know, I've been thinking," Daniel started, reaching up and pulling his hat down further onto his head.  
  
"Daniel my boy, thinking is what you do best," O'Neill quipped and smiled.  
  
Daniel looked bemused for a moment and then resumed, "This whole mess definitely smacks of someone or something who has had some sort of previous encounter with the Goa'uld. We have to assume the Goa'uld came here at some point for the gate to have caused that sort of reaction in Sam and not letting Teal'c through."  
  
"Yeah, but at this point, Daniel, we're just plain old assuming everything. Hell, we don't know whether they're Goa'uld fans or hate their guts, or maybe..just maybe it's the Goa'uld themselves playing some sick trick on us," O'Neill muttered as he smoothed the rain back off his forehead and replaced his cap.  
  
"I agree, sir," Sam added. "We don't know who or what is responsible for the Gate. We also don't know for sure, that what we think happened to Teal'c and to me is anything to do with the Goa'uld. It could be coincidence, even though it seems plausible. We've seen too much on other worlds to be sure of anything." She looked up at the rain, which was now easing slightly. "Besides, if we're right, does that mean that the gate was defending itself only because of my Goa'uld connection and nothing else? You know, if that's the case, you could make it back through the Gate without any trouble".  
  
"Now there's a thought. We go back home and leave you here, Captain. Daniel, I think the lady's telling us to go," O'Neill joked and shook his head.  
  
"Just a thought," mumbled Sam, snuggling down into her jacket further.  
  
"Sam's got a point, Jack. If one of us could get back through the gate without it firing on us or the DHD, we could maybe get some sort of help or work things out through the other side," Daniel retorted.  
  
"Look kids. I'm not leaving a man behind. Never have done. Never will. That device thing which wouldn't let Teal'c through...Thor's...thingie...well, you guys know what I mean, that wasn't Goa'uld technology, now was it?" Jack looked to them both for answers.  
  
"No it wasn't. But the defences on the gate here weren't being too specific about who they hit when they fired on us, once we were through. If our theory's right, it sort of looked like if you're with a Goa'uld you're dead. Thor's Hammer specifically disposed of Goa'uld only. None of us were harmed then. I don't think these are the same aliens involved." Daniel rested this particular case.  
  
"Okay, so if we accept that it isn't the same benevolent alien race controlling the Goa'uld's entry into this world, we have to assume that it's the residents of this planet stopping the Goa'uld from coming through the gate." Sam continued.  
  
"Makes sense. We've seen other gates either being monitored by the natives or under some sort of control. The chances of finding another alien people looking after everyone's interests is remote. Just maybe someone's managed to find a way of stopping the Goa'uld from coming to their own world all on their own." Daniel said, his hopes rising.  
  
"Okay kids, we need to meet these people, and we need to meet them fast. If they've got the technology to stop the Goa'uld from coming through the gate I'd like to make friends," O'Neill commented and grinned. "I'd also like them to take the dogs off the gate and let us go home," he added.  
  
"Let's just hope the natives are friendly," muttered Sam as she pulled herself to her feet and assembled her backpack.  
  
"You feeling okay, Captain?" O'Neill asked as he grabbed his weapon.  
  
"Thank you, sir. I've felt fine all night," Sam replied. She wanted to tell them but she couldn't. She knew they'd be angry. She knew they'd think her weak. Sam didn't know why she felt like it. In the back of her mind she had a feeling they wouldn't react like that but she couldn't explain her fears. She thought she knew the others, knew their reactions, but now she doubted it. She'd never felt like it before. 'Deceive them to save your honor', that's what the voices had said. The voices had to be right.  
  
"Maybe now you've been away from the gate for a while, the affect on you is less," suggested Daniel.  
  
"Maybe, "Sam answered, ignoring her burning forehead and the dull ache which raged inside her gut. "I'd sure like to hope so," she added, glancing at O'Neill, who nodded his silent agreement with that sentiment.  
  
"Right, let's take a look at the outside world," O'Neill suggested and moved through the small group of trees.  
  
"Whoa..." O'Neill's exclamation drifted back towards the other two and they looked at each in surprise.  
  
Sam and Daniel pushed their way through the trees to stand beside the Colonel and both exhaled sharply.  
  
"Looks like we got ourselves an interesting little planet here," quipped O'Neill as he looked out across the surface. "Will somebody please tell me they saw those last night?"  
  
****  
  
Teal'c sat motionless on his bunk. Everything screamed "no" to him. Everything he'd ever been taught as a Jaffa, ever been indoctrinated into since he took on a Goa'uld larva, screamed "Don't tell them. This is for the Goa'uld to know and no one else." But he'd shared all he knew of Goa'uld technology, he'd sworn allegiance to this world. How could he not tell them this? Why was this so difficult?  
  
Teal'c stared empty eyed at the wall. He felt torn within. He knew that knowledge of this planet would not be the enlightenment they sought, but merely a road into the darkness of a world gone mad. It was a dark piece of Goa'uld history.   
  
But his heart was telling him that he was allowing his friends to die. Would they abandon him? He knew the answer to that one. He knew that each and every one of them would lay down their lives for him. But this time it wasn't that simple and he knew they wouldn't, couldn't understand.   
If he could only get through the gate he knew he would go alone to find them. Could he ask anyone else to go back there? Teal'c didn't have the answers.  
  
  
  
Teal'c looked at the clock on the wall. Ten minutes left.   
  
He saw their faces flash through his mind. Memories rolling past as though a film were playing through his tortured thoughts. He watched Jack O'Neill save his life on more than one occasion. He saw Daniel Jackson's interest in his culture, his compassion for people and for all that made up the civilisations across the universe. He saw his honesty and his innocence. He saw the smiling face of Samantha Carter and her energy, her strength and her compassion, and most of all her link to him as a Goa'uld host. He knew he couldn't let them down.  
  
He laid his hand across his stomach in silent recognition of his Goa'uld larva. He felt the movement inside. He let his mind briefly remember the name he sought to hide. It flickered to the surface and he let it run around in his thought processes. 'Feldos'. He let it repeat. He let the revulsion of the teachings flood through him and he felt the knowledge of the years surface. His instinct was to bury the memories, the shame he felt, but it was too late, he'd opened the gate.   
  
"I'm sorry," he said quietly to the parasite which lay within him, and stood up, making his way to the door and leaving the room.  
  
***  
  
The eyes, which had watched them from a distance through the night, had savoured every moment. The hunger had intensified. The desire to taste was lifted to new heights as they witnessed and felt the depth of SG1's feelings. The taste of their fear was in there too. The taste of compassion was strong. They were proving very pleasurable to manipulate.  
  
"Fools. They never realise what they have, until it is taken away. It's the same with all the races. Especially the humanoids. It's been too long. Too long."  
  
"Do not hurry the process. It has been many years since souls have passed through our gate. Many, many years since we have tasted. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy".  
  
"I can sense Goa'uld among them and yet they do not appear to be so."  
  
"Agreed. I too can sense it. Perhaps an aberration. Perhaps hidden from us. Goa'uld would be good, very good. Excellent. Excellent!"  
  
Silent nodding. Silent agreement to savour every part of their being to the last drop. Until the end.  
  
***  
  
  
"Teal'c, are you prepared to help us?" General Hammond put his hands on the table in front of him and looked the Jaffa right in the eyes.  
  
Teal'c sat down directly opposite him and nodded. "I am prepared."  
  
The General nodded his appreciation.  
"Before you left the infirmary, you told us that we might not choose to help SG1 once you told us about this planet, can you explain why on earth we would do that?"  
  
Teal'c sat back in his chair and let out a deep breath. He allowed the name to surface again, then gradually the memories of what he knew. "When I have told you what I know, then you must make that decision," he said.  
  
"Very well, Teal'c. Please go ahead," the General asked.  
  
"The planet is called 'Feldos'. Its dark history is legend in the Goa'uld mythology." Teal'c paused and his eyes narrowed. "General, the explanation is lengthy," he added.  
  
"We're prepared," General Hammond said, sitting back in his chair. Janet Frasier sat to his left, her eyes intent on the Jaffa in front of her.  
  
"Very well. Feldos was a planet rich in energy, a unique energy source the Goa'uld were fascinated to find. As with other such worlds, The Goa'uld sought to conquer it and yet they underestimated the aliens who dwelt there. The planet Feldos took many more of the Jaffa than their many battles with other races had." Teal'c paused and looked at the General.  
  
"General, you find it hard to believe that the Goa'uld were easily defeated by an alien race?"  
  
General Hammond nodded. "From what I've seen so far, the Goa'uld rarely lose."  
  
"It is true that the Goa'uld consider themselves unbeatable. Their mistake was their arrogance. They refused to understand this new enemy or consider the dangers of sending many Jaffa to a world which returned none back through the Stargate. When their armies failed to return, the Goa'uld's anger turned to curiosity, but not stupidity. The Goa'uld sent an army of human slaves through the Gate instead. It was a test. Their Jaffa were more prized than the human slaves who were considered disposable. A few humans returned. Though most were unrecognisable."  
  
Teal'c raised his eyes to the ceiling and paused, his mind racing. What he was about to tell them, he wasn't sure he understood himself, though the legends were passed down through the centuries, Jaffa to Jaffa, slave to slave, until it was ingrained. Until Feldos became a word to be feared, a word which equalled darkness.  
  
"Can I get you anything, Teal'c?" Janet asked as she saw his discomfort.  
  
"I am all right, Doctor, but thank you," he replied. "I must continue.  
The slaves who returned, and there were but a few who escaped through the Stargate, had no minds left. They were broken shells, drained of all their emotion, of all that made them what they were. None of these spoke of what they had seen, none was able. Only one slave returned unharmed. His name was Clydor. Clydor's name rests on the lips of all slaves. The only soul to survive Feldos and its terrors intact, the only slave to return to tell the Goa'uld the truth about the fate of the Jaffa and what lay on Feldos. None have ever returned since."  
  
"How did he survive?" asked Hammond with interest.  
  
"It is said that he recognised the aliens for what they were and refused to look on them, and refused to hear their words. When he saw what was happening to his fellow slaves he fled with cloth in his ears and with his eyes shielded by his hands, never looking back. It is said that when he came through the Stargate it took the Goa'uld three days of torturing him to extract the information, so strong was his terror of what he had witnessed."  
  
  
"I have one problem with all of this," said General Hammond.  
  
"Only one..?"muttered Janet softly.  
  
"Why didn't the Goa'uld send a missile through and finish the aliens on Feldos off once and for all?"  
  
"I don't understand that either, and Teal'c do you know why you can't go through the gate to Feldos?" Janet asked gently, her head burning with questions.  
  
"I do," he replied simply and then continued. "As you say, General, the Goa'uld's first thought was to destroy Feldos and indeed they drew up plans to erase it permanently. There was accord on this plan within the Goa'uld hierarchy, until a System Lord named Gran'arl decided that the planet could be more useful to the Goa'uld intact."  
  
"Gran'arl," repeated Hammond. "You haven't spoken of this System Lord before, Teal'c."  
  
"He is not spoken of by the Jaffa," Teal'c replied. "Gran'arl was evil, his mind dwelling on all that is dark. He believed that Feldos would serve in the Goa'uld interest as a place where all aliens who defied them could be sent. The punishment would be worse than death, because death could be an honourable thing but Feldos was everlasting darkness, everlasting terror."  
  
Janet shuddered. "Nice people," she whispered.  
  
Teal'c turned to the Doctor, his face impassive. "Doctor Frasier, it is of great shame to many Jaffa to be associated with such eternal damnation for any creature, even enemies of the Goa'uld, but the Jaffa live with the knowledge for the sake of the symbiot within them. What I will tell you more, of these dark deeds and of the darkness which rages on Feldos, will perhaps show you why Colonel O'Neill and the others may be lost within Feldos...forever."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER THREE  
  
  
  
  
  
"Daniel?" O'Neill gestured towards the three spherical shaped structures in front of him, his eyebrows raised in anticipation.  
  
Daniel peered through his glasses. "Ah...well now.... I guess they're round," he replied helpfully.  
  
O'Neill turned his hand, "and..?"  
  
"Well they appear to have no visible means of entry or exit. Their surface seems to be metallic. There are no symbols or indications as to what they are." Daniel shrugged. "Jack, I don't know what they are," he said simply.  
  
"Well that makes me feel better," O'Neill said, as he looked at Carter.  
  
"Any thoughts from my left?" he said.  
  
"Um..no. Daniel said everything I would have, sir," she replied.  
  
"Well, we don't have a lot to choose from, do we? We either go look at these darn things and figure out what they are and how in God's name they weren't there last night, and maybe make contact with the aliens, or we go back to the Stargate for another try at getting near it. I'd go for looking at the golf balls for the moment. Any objections?" O'Neill watched them slowly shake their heads and then he turned forward. "Didn't think so. Okay then. Let's get closer".  
  
There was no protective cover between the trees where they were and the first sphere.   
  
"Down and shuffle," O'Neill ordered and the team dropped and started the slow progress towards their targets, their weapons raised in anticipation.  
  
After some ten minutes, the feeling that someone was watching them started to burn into Sam's mind. She couldn't shake it. She turned swiftly and caught a glimpse of movement behind them, near to the trees. She rolled onto her back and raised her weapon. Raising to a half sitting position, she caught sight of a dark shape pass swiftly from the trees and then fade. She blinked. She didn't like what she'd seen.  
  
"Colonel! Movement behind us!" she shouted.  
  
"Damn it, Carter, get down!"  
  
She heard O'Neill's voice and dropped flat on her back for a single moment. Her friends were further away from her now, moved nearer towards the sphere.   
  
"What do you see?" O'Neill shouted.  
  
"I'm not sure...I...." Carter's voice slowed and then stopped.  
The sky above her shimmered and warped. She could swear she'd seen a translucent shape. She ran her hand across her eyes sensing mistiness, but it didn't clear. The atmosphere started to stifle her, her breathing increased as she gulped for air and then the pain started. This time it was intense. She gripped at her stomach and cried out, her energy drained in a single moment. She dropped her firearm to the ground, as what felt like a clamp of steel gripped her arm tightly, squeezing it until she dropped the weapon and then letting go.  
  
A shape now loomed above her clearly, its eyes burning a dark red, boring into her, its face unseen, shrouded by darkness. She reached for her knife and swiftly withdrew it. It reached towards her. Clawed fingers reaching for her, a whispering all around her, voices she couldn't comprehend, whispered warnings, cold whispers. Voices, willing her to defend herself at all costs.  
  
And then she felt the hand upon her shoulder and she swung. She swung with all her might with her knife and buried it within the creature, which was trying to kill her. She scrambled backwards as she watched it cry with pain. She watched the other creature who hovered menacingly close, laugh. The sound was ugly, warped somehow. She saw it move and then fade towards the trees once more. She rocked on her knees to ease the pain which tore at her gut, her head exploding with a pressure the like of which she'd never felt before.  
She raised her eyes to look at the creature she'd knifed and gasped.  
  
"Way to go, Carter," O'Neill whistled through his teeth as he grabbed at Daniel's shocked figure and clapped his hand over the wound she'd made.  
  
****  
  
"The human had no Goa'uld inside."  
  
"And yet there were traces. Interesting."  
  
"Yes, an interesting victim. The Goa'uld's self interest combined with human compassion. Perfect. It has been long since Goa'uld walked this world. Long. This will make an interesting mind to subvert."  
  
"Yes, the taste of terror was strong within her."  
  
"And the feeling of despair within the other when she attacked him."  
  
"The female had warning of our presence."  
  
"Yes, I felt this, but she is weakened."  
  
"Did you taste anything from the third human?"  
  
"He is confused. His thoughts are incoherent, masked from us. His mind is not open and his feelings are blocked by past experiences. Of the three he may be the most difficult to turn."  
  
"And that will make the hunt more enjoyable...and longer"  
  
"Yes.... And longer."  
  
****  
  
Teal'c shifted slightly in his seat. He was too far in now to turn back. He had to tell them everything about Feldos, he had to know if the people of this world would try to go where the Goa'uld had once been too afraid.  
  
"The Goa'uld are selfish and arrogant," he continued. "To turn an enemy to their own devices and use them is worth more than destroying them. It is a living victory, on display for all to see. But they did not want their own people straying to the planet accidentally. They did not want the Feldori to be able to leave through the Gate to seek revenge. Gran'arl devised a plan to both imprison the Feldori and prevent any unfortunates that were sent there from ever returning."  
  
"They imprisoned an entire species on their own planet?" asked General Hammond somewhat incredulously.  
  
Teal'c nodded. "This is so. There was no evidence that the Feldari used another means of travel other than the Stargate. There were but a few of them roaming the surface. The Goa'uld knew that they had the upper hand."   
  
"How did they do it?" Hammond persisted.  
  
"I will explain. All Jaffa are taught about Feldos, and it is the Jaffa's duty to protect their Goa'uld larva from ever coming to harm. So both Jaffa and Goa'uld had to be stopped. To that end, the Goa'uld sent human slaves to the very edge of the gate and planted hidden warning devices which emit pulses only recognised by the Goa'uld or their larva. The warning pulses send the larva into a state of collapse and the Jaffa must withdraw in order to protect them. A Goa'uld would simply retreat. If a Jaffa or Goa'uld has forgotten Feldos, he is soon reminded that it is forbidden to travel there."  
  
"And what killed the Goa'uld armies who went there originally?" General Hammond asked.  
  
"Clydor tells that when he arrived on the world it was a dead world, barren and lifeless. He saw hundreds of Jaffa bodies wracked with a plague of some sort, their Goa'uld larva torn from their bodies and discarded. He tells that the few aliens he saw possessed no human bodies, that they were dark things without form. The human slaves were separated one from the other and lured to their deaths. He tells of a madness, which took his fellow slaves and turned one against the other. It is also said that the screams of a thousand men echoed in his ears for a day and a night until he could bear it no longer and fled from his hiding place to the gate, dragging several slaves with him. These slaves no longer possessed their own minds."  
  
"Teal'c, this plague. Is it dangerous to humans?", Janet asked worriedly.  
  
"It is not. The Slaves of the Goa'uld were not harmed when they planted the warning devices and Clydor returned safely, as did the changed ones. It is believed that the Jaffa died because the larva within them were infected, or that Clydor did not see the real truth."  
  
"And imprisoning the inhabitants of Feldos, how did they do that. I assume the aliens used the Stargate to travel to other worlds? Hammond asked.  
  
"Gran'arl believed that they did. It is believed that those who inhabit Feldos harvested victims from many planets. Their travel unnoticed on some worlds. All gates are not as well guarded as yours, General," Teal'c replied. "The Goa'uld slaves also put up defences on the other side of the gate which are intended to imprison all who reach there, including the Feldori. Nothing can get near to the gate once on the other side. Many slaves died in this attempt and the Goa'uld sent many to their deaths at the hands of the Feldori so that the defences could be in place. Success was finally Gran'arl's and as far as legend tells, no Feldori may leave, or their victims."  
  
  
"What of the false appearance seen by the probe? Could the Feldori be causing that?" Janet asked.  
  
"I do not believe the Feldori have done this," Teal'c replied. "The legend of Gran'arl and Feldos is dark indeed. I have heard that Gran'arl's final dark act on Feldos was to encourage the innocent to reach the world and feed the Feldori's darkness. He despised the aliens for taking his armies and yet in a darker moment was feeding them. I believe that the holographic projection is Goa'uld in origin."   
  
"Like animals in a zoo," muttered Janet, shaking her head.  
  
Teal'c turned to look at Hammond. "General, if you intend to rescue O'Neill and the others you must remember one thing. Feldos is like no other planet you will visit. The Feldori suck the life and soul from their victims. They prey on all that come through the gate and take them for their own ends. They drain them until all desire for life is gone. The Goa'uld have never defeated or killed any of them, they have merely imprisoned them."   
  
  
"And SG1, Teal'c? They're not Goa'uld. Could they survive on the other side as Clydor did?" Hammond persisted.   
  
"I do not know," Teal'c replied, his eyes darkening. "Captain Carter will find it difficult. Her connection to the Goa'uld will not make things easy for her. If the aliens of Feldos realise that she has Goa'uld in her they will take great pleasure in conquering her."  
  
The General and the doctor exchanged worried looks. A planet which terrified the Goa'uld and an alien race which couldn't be defeated. A planet which the Goa'uld had taken the trouble to prevent their own kind from wandering into and had turned into a living hell for anyone who did. A planet, SG1 were now currently trapped on. General Hammond sank into his chair to consider his options. Not that any would come to mind.   
  
***  
  
"Oh God, Daniel, I'm so sorry," Carter cried as she scrambled across to the half seated figure of Daniel Jackson, his arm cradled by his other hand while O'Neill started to tend the wound from the limited medical kit they carried. She reached out and touched him gently.  
  
"What did I do?" Daniel asked as he searched her face with surprise.  
  
"Nothing. You didn't do anything. I mean...you did...you tried to kill me...or at least something did...then it wasn't you.... Then..." Sam put her head into her hands and pulled her fingers fiercely through her hair. Her stomach ached intolerably as did her head. She couldn't.... wouldn't.... believe that what she'd seen could have been so wrong, and yet it obviously was. She couldn't trust her own eyes any more.  
  
"Sir. I need to be restrained. I think I'm losing my ability to function as a Stargate officer. I formally request..."  
  
"Carter! Hold it right there. No one gets restrained on my missions unless I say so. Understood?" O'Neill said as he concentrated on finishing off Daniel's dressing.  
  
"Besides, there's only two of us, and you're way too much of a handful to restrain right now," he joked lightly. He knew she was hurting. They all were. Attack from within was a hard pill to swallow, especially when no one understood what the Hell was going on.  
  
He was angry with himself. He hadn't been able to stop Daniel from rushing off to help Sam when she'd cried out. He should have been there first. He was the soldier. Daniel had blundered in giving her no warning of his approach. If he'd reached her first...  
Then again if he'd reached her first he might have been the one stabbed.  
  
He sat up and stopped bandaging for a second, his eyes narrowing. Where had that come from? The feeling that self interest was important. He shook his head. He'd almost heard the thought spoken before he thought it. He looked over his shoulder and then the other one. Then he looked at Daniel.  
  
"Are you okay, sir?" Sam asked, seeing O'Neill with a disturbed look on his face.  
  
"Yes. Of course," he replied, brushing aside her concerns and his own. His voice softened. "Sam, you reacted, that's all. You thought you were under attack and you reacted. Happens to everyone once in a while. Let's try to stay focused everyone. Let's try to get home."  
  
"You didn't see anything attack me.... Did you?" Sam said, her eyes dropping to the ground.  
  
"Nope," Jack replied and Daniel shook his head as the bandaged was clipped into place.  
  
Sam's mind whirred.  
  
O'Neill helped Daniel to his feet and took his bag to add to his own.  
  
"And Carter?"  
  
Sam turned to him.  
  
"You okay? What was that cry for back there...before you...well you know?"  
  
"The pain again, sir," she said quietly. She didn't think they'd understand about the iron grip on her arm if they hadn't even seen the strange shapes. She was beginning to doubt her own mind.  
  
"You okay now?" O'Neill asked.  
  
"Yes fine, sir" she lied unconvincingly.  
  
Daniel and O'Neill exchanged worried looks and then moved towards the first globe.  
  
****  
  
"This meeting is on a "within these walls only" standing, is that understood everyone?" General Hammond stood at the top of the table and looked at the three people who sat before him.  
  
Everyone muttered their accord and the General nodded.  
  
"People, we have a situation the like of which I have never witnessed before, the like of which I hope we never witness again. SG1 are on hostile territory and are seemingly trapped there and quite possibly in a life-threatening situation. Now, we don't know whether they're in a position to get back somehow or if they're injured. In fact we don't know a damn thing. We've sent three probes in since they left and all three sent back the same damn pictures. A beautiful, peaceful planet with no sign of hostiles." Hammond hesitated.  
  
"Now, you all might wonder what we're going to do about it. Well, I'm gonna tell you right now. Our first concern is that Teal'c told us that the planet is barren and extremely hostile. The probes tell a different story. Lieutenant Cartwright, can you take it from here?"  
  
Lieutenant Anne Cartwright rose to her feet. She was an attractive woman in her thirties. Confident and painstaking in her work on the probe pictures over the last six months, she knew that finally she was about to make a difference. She flicked her dark hair back from her face with one hand and moved to the monitors.   
  
"As you can see, the pictures from all four probe cameras are almost identical. We have analysed them frame by frame. The computer simulation of the final version, an amalgamation of all the film we have from P3F231, shows that somehow, as I believe Teal'c warned us, some sort of device on the planet is sending us back a loop projection of an entirely false view."  
  
"How does that help us?" Janet asked, as she entered the room, nodded to the General briefly and sat down.  
  
Captain John Turner from Weapons Analysis rose.  
  
"May I?" he said.  
  
The General nodded, listening intently.  
  
"The probe is programmed to enter only a few feet onto the planet surface before returning through the Stargate. We watched its progress and at no time was it tampered with in any way. This means that the Goa'uld defences only come on line when a body is some way from the gate. This would make sense, since whoever planted the defence system had to return safely before activating it. There is therefore, a small degree of safety within the Stargate perimeter, when the aliens won't even know we're there. That's our window to work with," he concluded.  
  
"Are you thinking of doing what I think you are, General?" Janet asked as she turned to her Commanding Officer.  
  
"Doctor, we have to get a small specialist team into the area just at the exit from the Stargate to analyse the mechanism which the Goa'uld put there. Once we've done that, if it's safe for us to go through, we can disable the defence system and find SG1."  
  
"General Hammond, I believe that the holographic image is projected until an alarm is triggered at a certain distance from the gate. The Goa'uld defences are not there to kill anyone who enters the planet, but to prevent them from leaving. My glimpse of the world as it really is, was possible because my friends had just triggered the system and interrupted the image," Teal'c said.  
  
Hammond looked around at the people in front of him, the worry etched on their faces. "Given all these facts, people I think we have a fighting chance."  
  
He continued. "Besides, I think we may have the upper hand. The Goa'uld defence system is set up to prevent people from leaving. The aliens won't be expecting someone to disable the gate before they're aware they've arrived." Hammond smiled triumphantly.  
  
"General Hammond, freeing Colonel O'Neill and the others will provide an escape route for the aliens. Do we really want to do that?" asked Turner.  
  
"I've thought of that and I don't like the idea any more than you. For that reason we'll be setting a charge on the gate as soon as we've located SG1. Once everyone's home safely we'll blow their gate forever," Hammond said.  
  
Cartwright cleared her throat.  
  
Hammond turned. "Oh yes, and there's one more thing we've found out which I think you should all see. I warn you, it's not pretty. Lieutenant Cartwright, please tell us what you've found."  
  
"We analysed the probe pictures and readings in the hope of finding some trace of the alien culture or a clue to what we are dealing with. Usually one probe or even two is all it takes to get relevant readings and give us a go on a mission or not. Having four readings theoretically should give us more." She paused, looking at the General.  
  
"Please continue, Lieutenant," Hammond encouraged.  
  
"The readings the probe bought back were similar in every respect except for the last one. We programmed the last probe to go a little further from the gate. Here's a computer enhancement of what we saw when we analysed each spectrum result figure by figure." Cartwright flicked a switch and new monitors flared to life. The readings on the graph followed the same path on each of the probe's readouts. Alongside, played the footage from the camera. In the final reading from probe four a significant spike raced across the top of the graph and then dropped.  
  
"What was that?" Janet asked with interest.  
  
"We weren't sure. We had to tweak the equipment about to get a really true reading. We've never encountered this sort of thing before. What we do know is that it's an energy reading of some sort, pure energy. It only occurs quite some distance from the gate. Then we noticed this." Cartwright leaned across and grabbed a pointer. She re-wound the footage shots and then froze the final frame.   
"See..there..as the spike in energy hits the chart, this appears."  
  
Janet felt a shiver go down her back as the shot was enlarged frame by frame. A finger of fear licked at her spine. She looked at Hammond who nodded at her imperceptibly.  
  
In the corner of the camera image, a tiny smudge of darkness appeared. As the image was enlarged it became clearer. So clear that the small group in the room could see the outline of claws fingering the ground impatiently at the edge.  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Four  
  
  
  
"Well this wasn't here before," O'Neill remarked as he peered in through the entrance to the first globe.  
  
"Sir, I don't think..."  
  
"Carter, I'm not about to take us in there right now, so don't go fretting," O'Neill replied and gestured to the ground.  
  
"Sit there, Daniel. Carter assume defensive position," he ordered and moved around the globe to explore.  
  
"Aye, Sir."  
Sam's eyes darted from horizon to horizon. A part of her didn't want to look, yet a part of her was compelled. But if her eyes were to see the shapes again, her insides told her it wasn't going to be a pleasant encounter. She shuddered involuntarily.  
  
"You okay?" Daniel asked, seeing the haunted look in her eyes.  
  
She smiled and crouched briefly beside him. "Sure. You?" she asked, genuinely concerned.  
  
"Oh a bit sore, but Doctor Jack fixed me up really good," Daniel said and smiled, wincing at the same time as he moved into a more comfortable position.  
  
"Daniel?" Sam was standing again, scanning her surroundings.  
  
He looked up at her face. Her eyes roamed anxiously across towards the group of trees.  
"What's up?"  
  
"Did you ever believe in the supernatural when you were younger?" She asked it tentatively.  
  
Daniel shrugged, surprised at the question. "I guess every kid gets the creeps once in a while. I didn't give much thought to it. Too wrapped in ancient civilisations to go in any other direction, I guess."  
  
Sam nodded and bit her lip.  
  
Daniel felt a wave of sympathy. She looked lost and she looked scared. He'd never seen Sam Carter look that way before. He reached out and closed his fingers over the free hand which hung by her side.   
  
"You're a scientist. You've seen aliens before, Sam. I thought you didn't believe in ghosts and stuff. There's nothing supernatural about aliens."  
  
"This time it's different, Daniel. This time it's really different," she said and her eyes wandered out to the horizon once more.  
  
The gunfire sounded first and then the shouts. Sam swung around to see O'Neill backing towards them around the structure, his gun firing off towards the trees, and then swinging around towards them again, his eyes searching the sky above him.  
  
"Did you see them?" he shouted and grabbing Sam he propelled her towards the entrance to the globe. "We've got to get inside, come on."  
  
"Sir, we really shouldn't go in...." she shouted as she tried to untangle her shoulder from his grasp. He pulled her until her legs started to give way in the scramble.  
She saw Daniel's face and the look of shock and surprise as he struggled to climb to his feet to stop O'Neill from making a terrible mistake.  
  
She saw his face and then she saw the shapes. Gliding from the trees towards them, moving towards Daniel. He didn't see them but they seemed to be going for him. Then she saw him fire his gun and she knew he saw what she did.  
In that instant somehow she knew what they wanted and she summoned her strength from nowhere, ignoring her fear. She swung her body hard on O'Neill's arm and lashed at him, sending him reeling across the ground in surprise, his weapon still firing. She watched the shapes turn and flow past Daniel and come straight for her. She knew it was too late.  
  
"Daniel, get to the Gate. Get to the Gate and get away from here...please!" she screamed at him and then felt the blow to the head and the deep quiet which followed as she sunk into the darkness of unconsciousness.  
  
""  
  
"SG2 are ready to go, sir," the young officer saluted smartly and stepped back.   
  
"Good. Let's make it happen people. Let's get them out of there," Hammond said into the microphone as he acknowledged with a slight nod of the head, the commanding officer of SG2 waiting on the ramp.  
  
"Chevron 6 encoded," the voice of the young technician droned as the gate followed its final path to opening.  
  
"Chevron 7 engaged."  
  
Hammond put his hands on the console in front of him and straightened up as he watched the SG team, plus two weapons technicians, enter the wormhole and attempt to end the nightmare his people were stranded in.  
  
"Can it really work, Doctor?" he asked.  
  
"We've given it our best shot," she replied optimistically. "Each team has been fitted with headsets to block out external noise, but allow for person to person contact only. As for seeing the aliens, we can't do much about that, but we have briefed them thoroughly. They know what to expect and they're ready. Any hint of problems and they're to get back immediately.  
  
"I've given instructions to SG2 that the techs are to get the gate defences down asap, then plant the explosives. If they can pull that off then SG2 can go in to find Colonel O'Neill and the rest."  
  
Janet shuddered. The memory of what she'd seen on the monitor crawling back into her mind.  
  
***  
  
There was darkness inside the dome. The air was thick with decay and the feel of desperation and despair. Jack O'Neill sat with his back against the wall and stared at the curves of the dome's roof. The structure was huge. There was a light source of sorts but it was dim and came from far above them. Not enough to really see their surroundings but enough to know where he was. Though he didn't know why he was there.   
There was a damp feel to the walls, and a thick layer of grime covered the floor. Jack had been in some cells in his time but none with the oppression this one offered.  
  
He looked down at the mop of blond hair. Sam's eyes were closed tight, a large swollen bruise forming across her temple. He touched the hairline and examined the damage. Then he sighed.   
  
"I'm sorry Sam," he said in quiet muted tones. "Don't know what happened out there. Guess I screwed up, huh Captain?" He closed his eyes momentarily and leaned back.  
  
Then Sam stirred. She moaned slightly, then her eyelids opened slowly. She ran her tongue across her lips and then put a tentative finger to the swelling on her head.  
  
The mist of disorientation slid slowly from her eyes and mind and she looked up at the Colonel's face. She started to push herself upwards and then fell back, her world whirling.   
  
"Whoa.... Wait until things feel better before you start to move. Ain't going nowhere at the moment," O'Neill joked gently as he pulled her up to sit against his shoulder.  
  
"What happened?" she asked quietly and fingered her head once again, wincing.  
  
"Oh that? Just a little bit of a misunderstanding, between our ghoulish friends and me. They told me to do something and hey, guess what? I did it" he answered. "Sound like me? Nope. Thought not. Don't usually follow orders, me." O'Neill shook his head and stared across the darkness.  
  
Sam touched his arm. "Don't blame yourself, Colonel. They're feeding us thoughts, making us see things which aren't there, feel things we don't normally feel."  
  
O'Neill grimaced. "Yeah but would you believe a voice telling you something, well hell, you knew couldn't be true? Pretty lame excuse if you ask me, Captain," he said.  
  
"What did they tell you?" Sam asked, interested.  
  
"Oh, I'd rather that one stayed between me and the freaks in ghoul town, Captain," he replied smiling.  
  
Sam studied his face for a minute and then smiled back. She knew what it felt like to want to keep secrets. She hadn't altogether been straight with her friends either.  
  
Sam straightened up slowly.  
"Where's Daniel? Did he get away? Did you see him?" she asked.  
  
"Well he isn't here in the Happy Park so I'm hoping he's got the sense to get back to the Gate and get out of here," O'Neill replied.  
  
"I told him to go. Just before you... I told him to leave the planet. Get through the gate. He might be able to do it, he just might," she mused, biting her lip.  
  
"At least one of us stayed focused then," he replied. "Good work, Captain," he added and smiled at her satisfied grin.  
  
"What do you think they want?" Sam asked as she leaned against the cool of the interior wall.  
  
"Ah, your guess is as good as anyone's. Maybe we looked nice and they wanted to invite us to stay to tea. Maybe they don't know how to treat their guests properly. Beats me," O'Neill pouted, picking up bits of dirt from the floor and dropping them again, and then he looked across the room. "Captain, tell me you see what I see."  
  
Sam followed the direction of his gaze to the far side of the room.   
  
"I see them" she replied and shuddered, her spine tingling.   
  
***  
  
  
Daniel scrambled to his feet grabbing at his weapon and began to fire at the shapes moving at speed towards him, the red glow in their eyes and the outstretched claws feeding his fear. The shots passed through them and he saw them flare as if the extra energy was feeding them.  
  
And then they were gone...  
  
He turned to see Sam lash out at Jack and to his horror saw the creatures descend as vultures to surround them, drawn by the sudden violence and flared temper.  
He knew that if he fired his weapon the shots might hit one of his friends.  
  
He heard Sam's shout for him to get back to the Gate and hesitated to leave them. As he watched Jack strike Sam and the door close behind both his friends and the aliens, he realised that Sam had thrown him a chance and that his friends' only hope now lay with him. He owed it to them to get them out...somehow.  
  
The Stargate lay several hours walk behind him. He knew he had to get there and get there before nightfall and before he found himself alone to find shelter for the night at the mercy of both the dark and the aliens. He straightened his back and shouldered the pack, gripping his weapon tightly. With gritted teeth he ignored the pain in his arm and pushed on in the direction of the Gate.   
  
""  
  
  
"What are you afraid of, Samantha Carter"  
  
The voices lilted and turned as they hung in the air, the alien shapes swaying in front of them, their red eyes both hypnotising and hungry for a reaction.  
  
Sam swallowed. She tried to tell herself she wasn't afraid of them. That she'd met aliens before. But she couldn't. In truth she'd never met anything quite like them before and they terrified her. She pushed hard against the fear, striking it briefly from her mind.   
"I'm not afraid," she said, her voice a comforting solid echo in the strange prison. A whispered brush of air across the side of her face, the breath of a whisper that they would take her friends from her and leave her alone, alone forever. Her stomach churned.  
  
"All beings are afraid, Samantha Carter. We can taste your fear. Tell us what feeds it."  
  
"So you can feed her some more?" O'Neill said loudly. "I don't think so."   
  
"Ah, O'Neill. Your true fears would be good to taste. We have tasted only briefly what your mind can feel. We cannot find your true terror, have not tasted it yet. Your mind is strong, it blocks your own feelings from even yourself and your friends, but we will seek it out, as we seek out all fear, all emotion."  
  
"Well now, that's interesting," O'Neill answered and shot a comforting grin at Sam.  
  
"We find it so."   
  
Sam felt waves of nausea rise in her throat and a burning sensation on her forehead. The cold whispers told her she would die there, die there alone. Suddenly she didn't feel particularly well.  
  
One of the aliens moved closer, its eyes glowing brighter as she wiped her hand across her forehead, the beads of sweat breaking out.  
  
"Your sickness worsens. You are afraid of being seen as weak, Samantha Carter. You keep the truth from your friends."  
  
"That's a lie," she retorted. "I haven't kept anything from them."  
  
"Is it? Interesting. You wish to be seen as strong. You would hide your weakness even when it threatens to destroy you. That part of the Goa'uld remaining inside you is arrogant. Your arrogance will be your death, Samantha."   
  
The alien whispering was growing. The voices seemed to be joined as one, assaulting her ears.  
  
O'Neill turned to look at Sam sharply as the alien spoke.  
  
"Carter? You okay? Is that "thing" up there telling the truth? You getting worse," he asked.  
  
"It's just a little fever starting up. I must be coming down with something. It's nothing Colonel, nothing," she reassured and then coughed.  
  
"More deceit. You are scared Samantha. Scared of letting them down, of being the weak link when you are not. Why do you not seek his help? What are you afraid of losing? Your strength lies in your compassion for one another and yet you would break free and remain alone in your misery and your suffering."  
  
"Just quit with the riddles why don't you!" O'Neill thundered as he watched Sam pale and put a shaking hand to her head. "Carter, you're not sick - they're making you believe it. You're fighting whatever it is off, don't give into it. Don't listen to them!"  
  
Sam looked across at him and shook her head.  
  
"Colonel I don't feel so good." she muttered reluctantly.  
  
"Excellent. Admitting your weakness causes you a different pain. Your suffering, your fear grows. You will die alone here. The sickness, which plagues you, has taken many who have ventured onto this world. Their minds were weak. They could not fight. Would you like to see the end? Would you like to see how you will be when your final hour comes? Come...look."  
  
A solitary figure crawled from a side of the chamber and stopped. In the darkness, the shape had no form but a shaft of light appeared suddenly from above them and illuminated it. Sam gasped at the sight of the ravaged soul, its skin destroyed by plague, its hands outstretched. Whether it was male or female was impossible to tell. She buried her head in her hands. O'Neill grabbed at her arms, pulling them free. He turned her to face him.  
  
"They're fooling with your mind, Carter. Whatever you can see. It's not there...it's not there," he shouted at her face. "You're not sick. They're making you think you are. Come on Carter, this is me. You're okay. Fight it. Tell yourself you're fine."  
  
Sam shook her head and clenched her fists. 'You will be alone', the voices had said.  
  
"I can't. I don't want to die alone, Colonel," she pleaded, raising her eyes to look at his face. "I'd rather die now than be here alone," she said, a tear breaking free.  
  
She could feel his warm breath gust her face and she stared into his eyes, burning with determination, burning with concern.   
  
The creatures descended nearer, hovering as vultures over a dying prey. They felt the compassion in O'Neill and it excited them. A new emotion, a new mind to subvert. They felt the terror rising in Sam.  
  
"Listen to me. I won't let you die here. Do you understand me, Carter. We're getting out together. You've got to believe me and be strong. Come on, remember when you had that damn Goa'uld in you, you fought then. Fight it now," he shouted at her closed eyes, her clenched hands. He gripped her shoulders and held them tightly.  
  
The mention of the Goa'uld, Jolinar sent a shudder through her. From the deep recesses of her mind she felt a warmth flood through. It drove at the terror and the pain and jolted her. She opened her eyes wide and stared unblinking at O'Neill. And then she knew he was right. He was the reality, they were not.  
  
She swallowed and blinked, nodding her head.   
  
O'Neill took her two clenched fists and squeezed them. "Okay. That's good. Fight it, Sam, fight it. You've got through worse than this. Don't let two creeps in cloaks do this to you," he said.  
  
She nodded, her hands still shaking. She concentrated on the pain in her head and the pain in her stomach. She concentrated on the memory of Jolinar. The combination worked. The mantle of pain lifted.  
  
"I'm okay, Colonel," she said.   
  
"Way to go, Captain, Way to go," he said grinning, giving her shoulders a squeeze of warmth.   
  
Sam pulled herself straight, wiping her hand across her eyes fiercely and stared at the shapes.  
  
"You're the sick ones. You're the ones who can't survive without feeding off our fears, our emotions. How sick is that?" she shouted.  
  
"Yeah, we're not fooled by a couple of ghouls in gowns, right Carter?" O'Neill breathed a sigh of relief to see her pull herself together and grabbed her hand, making ready to move for the door if the shapes did.  
  
Instead, the shapes moved backwards slightly and then settled on the floor at the far side. The whispering was low.  
  
"Don't you know it's rude to whisper in company?" O'Neill quipped.  
  
"And what of you, O'Neill. What is your greatest fear? What would cause you the greatest pain?"  
  
"Aw, me? Well gee. See I'm flattered that you're thinking of me like this, and that you want to help so much but really I'd rather not...."  
  
"Your concern for your friend opened a door to your mind...your feelings are clearer now, much clearer. You are afraid of your own inadequacy. You fear letting your friends down, of not being there for them. You are terrified of losing anyone else. You are afraid of their deaths. The mask of death hangs heavy on you, O'Neill. You carry its burden through your life. Let it go...here...we will help you to lose it."  
  
"Thanks for the offer guys but I don't want to play anymore. This game is getting tiring," O'Neill shot at them.  
  
"But we insist..."  
  
"These guys are really beginning to annoy me, huh Carter?" O'Neill said as he swung around.  
  
  
  
Sam was gone.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER FIVE  
  
  
Sam felt the clamp of steel across her mouth and the grip, as tight as a vice, around her arms. She tried to kick but realised that her feet were held tight too. She could just make out Colonel O'Neill's figure as she was dragged slowly towards the side of the structure. A feeling of inadequacy, of helplessness rose in her throat and sickened her stomach. She tried to flex her body, to react in some way so that he would see where she was but the iron grip remained. She couldn't see a captor. Couldn't feel a presence near to her, and yet she was imprisoned, somehow. She had to get free, to tell him she was all right. She watched him look around for her. Even get to his feet and search near to where they'd been. She saw him draw his weapon and aim it at the shapes in the corner and she saw the energy surge in them as his anger increased.  
  
"Okay, enough's enough. Quit with the stupid games. Give me my officer back now!" he shouted, aiming his gun directly at the two apparitions in front of him.  
  
"Your anger grows.. Your anger is a manifestation of your concern. Your inability to help Samantha Carter concerns you. Your helplessness concerns you. Give in to it, O'Neill, give in to it."  
  
"And you're really pissing me off," yelled the Colonel as he fired a round into the corner, directly where the shapes hung. The flare of energy around them was brighter than Sam had ever seen it before.  
  
"You are a fool, O'Neill. You cannot harm us. We cannot die. We are eternal. Your weapon merely feeds our strength. We can keep you as long as it is necessary. As long as it takes, for you to die. Give in to it now. End it now."  
  
O'Neill looked at his weapon with disgust.   
  
"Your anger consumes you. Soon it will become the only thought in your mind. Anger drowning compassion. Anger drowning fear. Then we will feed. Then your mind will be ours and your soul with it."  
  
"Man, I wish you'd stop talking like that. See, I don't buy into all this. You've taken my officer - for what?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "I mean, what in hell are you going to do with us that you haven't already done? Why split us up? Surely, together you'd get more of your"- and he drew imaginary brackets in the air- "emotions", he said, shaking his head. "You know, for a so-called smart bunch of aliens you're looking pretty dumb right now."  
  
Sam started to try to wriggle free but the clamps tightened. She was frantic. She knew that he'd just played right into the aliens hands. If they hadn't thought about it before, they'd consider it now. Splitting them up had been a bad thing, but putting them back together, would give them more opportunity to get what they wanted. She knew what was going to happen and she closed her eyes in dread to wait.  
  
***  
  
  
Daniel only just found a tree shelter as dark fell. He'd almost forgotten how quickly the night came down.  
  
Slumping down against a tree, he gathered his jacket around him and reached into his provisions for something to eat. He was getting cold and tired, his eyes starting to flutter, his body winding down to rest, and yet he couldn't sleep. He couldn't free his mind of what he'd seen some hours earlier. He feared for his friends, for their safety. For not the first time in the day, he wished Teal'c had travelled with them.  
  
The screams started within an hour. He sat upright, his heart thumping. They'd never heard anything like it the night before. He rose to his feet and shone a light out into the night. Nothing. The screams stopped.  
  
Daniel squatted back onto his haunches and rubbed his hands together, pushing the thought from his mind, that he wanted to know who the screams belonged to. He knew he was an easy target for the aliens. He made a promise to himself that this would be their last chance to get him. He'd get to the Stargate in the morning and get home, and no matter what it took and no matter how long it took, he'd be back for his friends.  
  
"Do you not care, Daniel?"  
  
Daniel heard the whisper. His eyes darted around him. Nothing.  
  
"Your friends need you, Daniel. They suffer because you are not there with them. Come to them, Daniel. Come to them and their pain will end, and so will yours."  
  
Daniel didn't reply. He knew the voices were lying. If he did go back to the spheres his chance of getting home were worthless. He doubted anyone would get released if he went there anyway.  
  
"Come on Daniel, we need you. Sam needs you. I can't do this without you Daniel. I need your help. Sam's in trouble, I can't help her alone."  
  
Daniel looked up sharply. The voice was Jack's, of that he had no doubt. Whether it was a manifestation from the aliens, he didn't know. What he did know was that neither Jack nor Sam would lure him back to the globe. Sam had been clear in telling him to get the Hell out of there. He wouldn't let them down, couldn't.   
  
"Actually, if you just leave me alone then we'll get along fine," Daniel replied steadily. He swallowed hard. He was shooting dice here.  
  
"But you are so interesting, Daniel," The voices laughed. Daniel could hear two different tones within the laughter.   
  
"Are there two of you?" Daniel asked.  
  
More laughter.  
  
Daniel decided to try a different tactic.  
"Okay. Well, what are you called and how long have you been on this planet?"  
  
"We do not have a name, Daniel. We have always been. There has never been anyone to use a name for us. Why would you be interested in us? You cannot comprehend us."  
  
Daniel saw a slight movement in the dark, to his left. He shifted his legs into a more comfortable position. He knew his weapon was probably useless against them. When he'd fired at them before, it had been pointless. He'd almost caught a tone of surprise in the whispering when he'd asked their name. He wondered if any one ever got a chance to be curious with these aliens. He guessed they probably didn't. Too busy running in terror. Too busy running from an enemy which couldn't be defeated by ordinary weapons. Daniel saw an opening. A chance to keep his sanity. A chance to live through the night.  
  
"It's my job to be interested. I'm interested in all alien cultures. And I might understand you if you explain about your history to me," he replied.  
The darkness shimmered slightly.  
  
"That is doubtful, Daniel Jackson. We encompass many alien cultures. Many cultures, many species, have travelled here. We have searched their minds for knowledge and for truth. We are knowledge itself."  
  
"But what you're saying is based on your own concept of the universe, and the other cultures you've met. Out there, far out there, there are countless cultures, countless species which you've never even met. How can you say you are knowledge itself, when you don't know the extent of the knowledge available?"  
Daniel looked at the trees, hoping to draw the aliens forward. He wasn't disappointed.  
  
Daniel was surprised at his own strength of mind. He no longer felt afraid of the two shapes which hovered in front of him, he was curious yes, and more he was interested. Yet he was still aware of the power they seemed to possess, even though he didn't understand how they'd come into being.  
  
"We were right. Your mind cannot comprehend us, Daniel Jackson. We feel it. Your feeble mind cannot understand a species, which is so unlike anything you have ever encountered before. It is this uselessness, this inability to see beyond your own reasoning, which makes us the superior culture, the superior being. We possess more than your species could ever hope to know and ever will know."  
  
"No one's that perfect," Daniel muttered as he shook is head at their complete arrogance.   
  
"You are correct Daniel. We have not found perfection. We still seek. Knowledge is nothing without emotion, without feeling. Knowledge is powerless unless fired by spirit."  
  
"So what do you want from people here? You can't feel emotion yourselves? Is that it? Why have you defended the Gate? Why imprison people here?" Daniel said, his interest piqued.  
  
The laughter was hollow this time. Empty, mocking.  
  
"Your human mind can only see one thing. You believe that the travel mechanism is important to us. It is of no consequence. There are several travel mechanisms on this world. They have always been here, a relic of a civilisation long gone from this place.  
  
This planet became ours alone, when the inhabitants failed to give us what we needed, failed to provide us with all that was promised. These gates are all useless to us. All useless. We are energy. We do not possess a weak frame as you do. A container to be discarded so easily. To be diseased, and torn apart. We exist. We have no need for such mechanisms. This is our world. We exist here forever. "  
  
"Why are you telling me all this? I thought you wanted to kill me back there?" Daniel said rising to his feet. The whole explanation from the aliens amazed him. Aliens of pure energy. There'd obviously been a previous civilisation here, but had the aliens destroyed it? If so, why? But if the aliens didn't travel, what was the Goa'uld connection with the gate?  
  
"You are mistaken, Daniel Jackson. Killing is a disease of mortals. We may not kill."  
  
"But..." Daniel started to interrupt. If they didn't kill, why did they bother keeping them here? Their answer had been confusing, implying that they had some law which prevented them from actually killing. He didn't get the chance to ask.  
  
"We are tired of talking with you Daniel Jackson. Your mind holds many emotions. We wish to taste your mind, Daniel."  
  
"Wait!" Daniel said, his hand in the air. "No one tastes my mind. If you can't hurt me, then I'm walking out of here."  
  
"Fool," hissed the voice. "Your mind - the electrical pulses - feed us, give us the taste of humanity, the taste of mortals which we crave, which we need to make us what we need to be. Your emotions are all that we do not have and need. We will take them."  
  
"Listen. You said you couldn't kill. Why should I be afraid of you?" Daniel carefully lifted his pack and weapon. He was poised, ready to make a run if he had to.  
  
"There are worse things than dying, Daniel." The chilling response sent a shudder through him and he pulled his jacket around him, as though the protection from its flimsy cloth would keep the aliens at bay. Just as a child pulls the bedcovers over their head when they're afraid of the dark. Daniel remembered with a chill, Sam's words about childhood fears.  
  
The shrieking which the aliens made, echoed through the trees and beyond, until he put his hands to his ears and bent his head with the pain.  
  
When he raised his head, the shrieking had stopped. A single voice rang out. The words adding finality to his determination to get back to the Stargate.  
  
"We thought you different, Daniel. So different. And yet you do not understand. But you are weak, as the others. You will suffer, as the others.   
For now, we tire of you. For now we have others to tend to. But we shall return.   
Remember this, Daniel. We never have to kill. Never have. Victims die at their own hands. You will kill one another. Then we will feed."  
  
***  
  
"General Hammond, I wish to join SG1 on the planet Feldos," Teal'c requested solemnly, as Hammond looked at him incredulously.  
  
"Teal'c, you know that's impossible. Dr Frasier told you your larva will die if you travel there," Hammond replied shaking his head.  
  
"I know you want to get there, Teal'c, but it's impossible," Hammond added.  
  
"Actually, it's not," Frasier said, walking into the room. "Permission to speak, General?" she added.  
  
"Go ahead, doctor," Hammond motioned to her.  
  
"I've been testing a form of shielding armour on Teal'c and his Goa'uld larva for a few months now. I knew we might need it one day, since the larva is linked to Teal'c so specifically, and we might need to protect it," she said, folding her arms and looking at Teal'c.  
  
"The doctor speaks the truth, General," Teal'c said.  
  
"This shielding. How do you know it will work to protect him against the machine on the other side?" General Hammond asked.  
  
"We don't," admitted Frasier. "What we can do is make sure that Teal'c only reaches the perimeter and that the gate is left open this end in case he needs to return quickly as before. The worst that could happen would be that he felt the same discomfort as before. The best that he could actually reach the planet unaffected. He'd have to remove the armor soon after arriving, it's too heavy to walk around in."  
  
"Doctor, you haven't tried anything like this before. Teal'c could die, you said so yourself when he returned." General Hammond said frankly. "I can't sanction a risk like that, whatever Teal'c feels."  
  
"It does carry risk," Frasier admitted, but I think you should hear Teal'c out before you make a decision.  
  
"General. Colonel O'Neill and the others have been on Feldos for nearly thirty-six hours now. The unit, which you sent to search for them, has not finished disabling the gate's defences. I believe that you must allow me to scout the planet alone for them. They do not know what Feldos is. I know all that there is to know of Feldos. I do not believe that they will survive for long if they are still alive. They may need my help." Teal'c said quietly, his mind made up.  
  
Janet raised her eyebrows at the General and nodded.   
  
Hammond looked from one to the other.  
  
"It's against my better judgement. Doctor Frasier, is there any extra precaution we can take?"  
  
"I think he should be escorted across in case there's any problems. He can come straight back if the suit doesn't work," Frasier suggested. "General, I'd like to be in the escort. I can take some equipment which might help SG1 if we find them alive," she added.  
  
"Teal'c?" Hammond looked across at the Jaffa.  
  
"Yes, General," Teal looked at him, his face registering no emotion.  
  
"You really want to do this?"  
  
"Yes, General."  
  
Hammond scratched his chin thoughtfully. The Jaffa stood tall in front of him, his eyes fixed on the General's face.  
  
"Very well. You'll go to Feldos with Dr Frasier. When you get to the other side, tell the team to continue to work on disabling the gate's defences, and wait for you both to return from scouting the planet surface. You may need their help when you return to the Gate."  
  
Hammond got to his feet and paced across to look through the glass at the Gate itself.  
It stood, a silent grey wheel. The iris was closed. Hammond could only imagine what his team was suffering on the planet of terror.  
  
He paused silently for a moment and then looked back at Teal'c.  
  
"Teal'c. If SG1 can't be found, or if you find that something has happened to them, I want you all to get the Hell out of there and blow the gate, is that understood?"   
  
Janet looked down, her face registering the emotion she knew Teal'c would also be feeling.   
  
"It is understood, General." Teal'c repeated.  
  
"Good. Now people, let's go get SG1, " Hammond said and folded his arms across his chest.  
  
  
***  
  
Sam felt the lightness immediately. The heavy clamp, which had held her for what had seemed like ages, released suddenly. She scrambled quickly across the fifty feet towards O'Neill, the movement startling him.  
  
"Carter! Glad you could make it," he said with pleasure as he saw that she was unharmed.  
  
"Colonel. I heard everything they said to you. They're really screwing with our minds here. We've got to get out of here before..." O'Neill put a finger to her lips and hushed her.  
  
"No giving out secrets, Captain," he whispered and indicated with his eyes the two shapes moving towards them.  
  
Sam nodded her agreement with a slight movement of her eyes.  
  
"Well, well. The two goons want to play. Howdy there, folks. Come to watch the side-show?" he mocked loudly.  
  
"Colonel, I don't think...." Sam saw O'Neill shake his head imperceptibly, his indication that he had everything under control.  
  
"O'Neill. You think you are so clever. Your words mask your true feelings. Your fear hangs in the air as does Samantha Carter's. You believe that you could fight us and that you would win. You know nothing. We do not fight. We watch. You are slowly disintegrating within yourselves. Soon the taste of what you feel before you die will be ours. We can wait, O'Neill. We can wait."  
  
"Jeez, you sure are sore losers," O'Neill quipped shaking his head. "Don't you think, Captain?"  
  
Sam nodded her agreement. The game was O'Neill's and he was playing it.  
  
"See, this is how it is, people. We aren't going to die. Not here. Not outside. Not alone. Not together. Not on this charming little planet. So you might as well let us go. How about it? A little trip to the outside of this damn contraption you got us in here? Outside would be more fun. More..." O'Neill paused to think and looked to Carter with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"A little help, Captain?" he whispered.  
  
"...more light, sir," she answered, wincing and looked sceptical.  
  
"Real helpful, Carter.." O'Neill hissed.  
  
Sam looked sheepish. She wasn't sure what he was trying to achieve, but she was ready to go along with almost anything right now.  
  
"O'Neill. We have Daniel Jackson."  
  
The words struck a chill into O'Neill's heart. Sam looked down, her eyes cold and dark. Their last chance. Gone. Finally gone. Sam dropped her eyes to the floor of the chamber, and allowed the dark images to play there.  
  
  
CHAPTER 6  
  
  
The Gate on Feldos was a frenzy of activity. Quiet activity. The two technicians worked feverishly just on the outside of the arch. The Goa'uld mechanism which warned their own was so deeply attached to the inside of the arch, that the technicians took the decision to leave it alone. Disabling it might affect the actual gate itself, and none of them wanted to be stranded on the planet through their own hands.  
  
The defence mechanisms, which the Goa'uld had set up as prison gates, were easier to get at.   
  
"Geez, why hasn't someone taken these babies to pieces before," the first technician said in muted tones as he finally wrenched the first device from the gate.  
  
The second tech laughed silently. "Probably because they would've taken twenty hours to get it off like you did, man."  
  
"You ain't doing so cool yourself, Maldike. Where's that second one then?"  
  
"I nearly got it, don't ya fret," Maldike replied quietly.  
  
The first chevron's movement startled them both. Maldike dropped his tool and jumped to the ground. "We got incoming," he hissed at the three SG team members who were standing watching the horizon. The holographic imager had been disabled as soon as they'd arrived. It lay closer to the DHD than the gate but they'd found it within an hour and hot wired the alarm system to stay active as far as anyone else was concerned, but deactivated the actual hologram.  
  
Two of the three team members swirled around and pulled their weapons to their shoulders, aiming directly at the gate, the third stayed searching the landscape with his eyes. It could be an alien trick.  
  
The two techs ducked behind the last MALP to be sent through the gate.  
  
The liquid pool stretched its finger out from the gate and then returned. The calm surface was then broken by two figures stepping clear of the circle, together with a small transport vehicle.  
  
The SG team stayed frozen in the defensive position. They knew too well, that what you saw come through then gate wasn't always what it seemed.  
  
"Don't shoot, colonel," Frasier hissed across to them as she pulled free her helmet and her hair bounced free, her one hand raised in a submissive gesture, her other hand supporting an armored figure seated on a rescue vehicle. The figure was immobile, yet human in form. The SG guard who had travelled with them, supported the other side of the figure.  
  
"I need to get this man past the gate defences. Are they down?" she asked the SG Colonel who stepped forward.  
  
He shook his head. "Not quite, but I think we're nearly there, doctor," he answered and turned to the techs who walked forward. "Maldike, is it a go?" he asked.  
  
"Ten minutes, sir," Maldike replied.  
  
"Get it done asap. This man has to get out of this suit and away from this gate fast," Frasier warned. "How close to the edge of the boundary can I go?"  
  
"We'll take you to the limit. As soon as the defences are deactivated you can push forward," the Colonel replied. "You want us to go with you, doc?"  
  
"No. Orders are to stay by the gate. Plant the explosives as planned and wait. Colonel, you're to blow the gate if anything happens to us, is that understood. Orders from General Hammond himself," she added.  
  
The Colonel nodded and then helped them to get the vehicle as close to the boundary as possible, its strange cargo intact and, to Janet's relief, seemingly unharmed. She congratulated herself secretly on deciding to go ahead and develop an armor for Teal'c, just in case. Amazing how the "just in case" often became "necessary" at SGC, she mused thoughtfully.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Do you really expect us to believe you freaks," Jack exploded as he stared at the bowed head of Samantha Carter for a single second.  
  
"What you believe is of no consequence to us, " the voices chimed.  
"He is weak, as you are, Jack O'Neill. His mind succumbed, just as yours must, given time. Time is what we have, O'Neill. You unfortunately do not. We have waited millennia seeking true emotions, true feelings. We never tire of feeding. Our victims have fed us, just as you will, just as your friend Daniel has. You are no different."  
  
Jack threw his hand at them in disgust. "You're full of crap," he shouted, his anger building, his frustration exploding. "Daniel Jackson's quite capable of getting you freaks out of his mind, just as Carter did, just as I can. I don't know who you've tormented here in this hell-hole before but it ain't gonna be us.   
  
"Your friend's torment has already begun. He is near to the end of his time here with us. He is at the end of his time here with you. Would you like to see him? Shall we show the compassion that you humans possess and let you see your friend one last time?"  
  
Sam raised her head, her eyes stark, darkened by hatred for the aliens and by fear for her friends and for their very existence. She needed to do something to save them. She stepped towards them, moving away from O'Neill, wanting them to come for her alone, to make it easy for her. She knew she couldn't win and yet she felt a compulsion to end the continual whispering, the continual terror which she felt. She moved towards the aliens until O'Neill was behind her in the darkness, unseen and unmoving. If they were going to kill her, she wanted them to try it now. She believed in herself. Believed she could save the others.  
  
"You don't know the meaning of compassion," she said steadily, her eyes avoiding looking behind her at O'Neill's. She couldn't look at him even if she could see him in the dark. She couldn't see the pain which she knew would be registering in his eyes, the anguish he would be feeling at being helpless. Jack O'Neill couldn't feel this helpless, it would be tearing him apart.  
And yet she felt a sense of unease. Why didn't O'Neill tell her to stop? Order her to come back? She didn't look around. The voices said he had his reasons. She shook her head.  
  
"You are wrong, Samantha Carter. We have felt compassion in many species. We are capable of reproducing any emotion which we have tasted, but only when we choose. We do not usually choose to do so."  
  
"Hey, freaks. How about it? Give us Jackson. Watch us fall apart, why don't you?" O'Neill's voice sounded from behind her in the darkness. "You got all the aces. You might as well deal," he added.  
  
Sam swung around in disbelief. This wasn't like Jack O'Neill.   
  
"What Carter? You want me to get upset at the ghouls again?" he said. "You get upset for me. I'm all out of emotion now. You take it away, girl. You got enough for both of us," he mocked and grinned at her.  
  
Sam felt a terror rise in her throat. Was O'Neill losing it? She couldn't be sure.  
  
"You may see your friend." The aliens moved further from her, leading her away.  
  
Sam turned away from where she could hear O'Neill, and she watched in mute horror as a figure appeared from the side of the chamber. Torn uniform, bloodstained face, his head bowed in submission, eyeglasses held limply from his hand. His face was the face of defeat.  
  
Sam's heart almost tore from her body at the sight of her friend and at the sight of his tortured soul.  
  
"Daniel!" she shouted and began to try to reach him. If she could get to him perhaps she could stop this insanity right now.  
  
"You cannot stop the inevitable, Samantha," the whispering droned. "This too is your fate. Accept it, welcome it. You will surely die along with your friends. Come and embrace your destiny."  
  
Sam looked on Daniel's face. His eyes pleaded with her, begged her to stop his suffering. He reached a hand across to her. He stood so close and yet she seemed unable to reach him, her feet locked to the spot, heavy, leaden. She reached a hand towards him. He was so near and yet...  
  
"Carter!" O'Neill's voice sounded from behind her. She seemed unable to do anything fast. In slow motion she turned and stared at her Commanding Officer, his face turned to stone as he pointed his weapon towards Daniel and towards her.   
  
"Colonel, what are you doing?" she demanded in terror, aware that her voice was no more than a whisper across the reaches of the chamber.  
  
"What we should have done hours ago. Now we can end it for Daniel too, now we can stop the madness and finish it for us all," O'Neill said flatly, his eyes emotionless.  
  
  
O'Neill knew as soon as the clamped feeling hit his chest that he was helpless. The darkness closed around him as he felt himself being dragged backwards and then stood, an invisible band of steel holding his arms and covering his face.  
  
He watched in disbelief as Carter walked forward. What was she doing? He struggled against the confines of his restraint but he could scarcely move a muscle, so tight was the field around him.  
  
Seeing the alien image of himself taunt his Captain, goad her into risking her life, he felt all hope leave him, and then he saw the figure walking towards her, reaching a hand in supplication, for help, for relief from pain. Daniel!   
  
His eyes filled as he watched both his friends in their final dance, both reaching for the other, both wanting something. The one seeking release, the other needing to help.  
  
He wanted to warn them. He wanted to help them.  
  
His terror rose as bile in his throat until it almost choked him. So Daniel had been caught after all. He lowered his eyes for a moment. His mind unable to take in what had happened in just the last few minutes. They'd had a chance, they'd had hope. Now they had nothing. For the first time since they'd arrived on the planet, he felt alone and helpless.  
  
As his alter-ego lifted the weapon to his shoulder aiming at both Daniel and Carter, a madness came over him, fed by desperation and fed by pure anger. He wouldn't let them die.  
  
The gunshot rang out as Sam screamed at O'Neill to stop. She turned and saw what she thought was Daniel shimmer and fade. Sam felt the last vestige of reality crawl away as she stared at the colonel and closed her eyes.  
  
"Great joke, eh Sam? Your turn now. Oh, I forgot you're not an illusion. Sorry, you really die!" O'Neill taunted.  
  
Sam knew what was coming next and she stood firm, resignation finally her friend.  
  
"Do it," she said in a cold monotone, and braced herself.  
  
Nothing. She opened her eyes. Darkness. The aliens had gone. She turned around. Daniel had gone. Nothing. Silence. Complete and black. O'Neill, his weapon, gone.  
  
She turned and turned, until she sank to the floor, to her knees.   
  
She sat for what seemed like an eternity. She let a slow tear trickle down her cheek and drop to the floor. Alone. Her nightmare, she would die alone. Where was O'Neill? Maybe she could reason with him. Maybe she could take him out before he got her again.  
  
A hand on her shoulder. Sam leaped to her feet and swung hard, sending her attacker flying to the floor. She heard the grunt and then braced herself for another assault, her eyes flying.   
  
"Jeez, Carter, some welcome," O'Neill said rubbing his chin and eyeing her cautiously.  
  
The weapon flicked up and to his chin within seconds. Sam's eyes glinted as she watched O'Neill's face register surprise, and admiration. "Well now, that's better. That's more like it," he said and smiled, reaching a hand out for her weapon.  
  
"Leave it, Colonel," she said coldly, keeping the weapon in contact with his skin.  
  
"Sam, that wasn't me. It wasn't Daniel. Listen to me, I know" he said, his hands outstretched to show her he wasn't going to hurt her.  
  
"Colonel, I don't know why you did it, but I do know you did it," Sam said. "He was our friend, your friend. How could you...?"  
  
O'Neill smashed a hand across the gun, taking her by surprise, and sent it across the floor and he grabbed her hands with his own, holding them tight. Bringing her towards him he spoke slowly and calmly.  
  
"Carter they're messing with our minds big time. We've got to stay together. They nearly made you kill me just then. We can only believe what we see, if we can feel one another. I mean it, Carter, our lives may depend on it."  
  
She shook her head in disbelief. "You shot him," she said. "You shot him." She shook her head and then let the tears come. The hot salty liquid coursed down her face as she stared at him.  
  
"How can I tell? I don't know how to tell?" she whispered.   
  
His heart went out to her. To her dark stained eyes and her pleading look. She was hurting and he didn't blame her for doubting him.  
  
O'Neill pulled her closer to him, until she could feel his warm breath on her skin.  
  
"I'm flesh and blood, Sam. Those projections weren't," he replied simply and put a hand up to her face to wipe away the tears, then pulled her to him so that she could release her feelings and wash away the insanity.  
  
"Daniel's not dead. He's not even here. The goons are lying. They're lying so we'll kill each other or ourselves. We've got to be strong, Sam. We've got to be strong."  
  
Sam pulled away and looked at him. "How long can we take this?" She asked, and for the first time O'Neill noticed that her eyes wore the haunted veil that only terror brings.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Daniel turned from the aliens and rose to his feet. His mind was racing with ideas, plausible get outs, anything he could do to get him to the gate intact. He now knew enough about the aliens to help form some sort of plan back at SGC, if he could get there in one piece. He doubted the aliens would free Jack and Sam, so it was up to him. He knew he was their only hope.  
  
"I think it's time for me to go, guys," he shouted in the direction of the trees as he started to trudge towards the gate, his flash light the only illumination across the ground.  
  
"Daniel Jackson. Would you leave your friends to die? Would you leave them as you left your own wife? To be used at the hands of aliens. You left her. You can't leave them. You know you can't leave anyone else. It torments you. They're your friends, Daniel. Come and take them home with you. We'll let them go if you come with us. Come."  
  
Daniel covered his ears. He knew they were taunting him. Their whispers assaulting his ears as he walked. They were goading him. Making him believe they were telling the truth, giving him hope. He almost believed them.  
  
His heart sank as he thought about what they'd said. He briefly let their words play in his mind. They were right about what he felt. He didn't want to lose his friends, lose them to some fate worse than death. Just as he'd left others before them. He tried to push the thoughts from his mind. He tried to push away the guilt and yet he couldn't. He knew they were right and he hated them for it. The hate rose in a single backlash and he raised his weapon towards them, firing wildly in their direction, his eyes darting everywhere and seeing nothing. His flashlight dropped to the ground below him. He reached forward to grab it and stumbled forward across a rock, anger burning at him. Anger that they were right. The darkness of the world around him enveloped him, cutting off his senses, cutting off his chances of freedom.  
  
"You are ours Daniel Jackson. Come to your friends and you will be given light. They can gain their freedom if you come. We need to see your emotion when you see them again and feel their happiness, come."  
  
"You're lying," he shouted, rolling onto his back. "You only want to feel the pain within me, like you want the pain in them. You're not interested in the good feelings."  
  
"You are wrong, Daniel Jackson, so wrong. We need to feel your compassion, to taste it. We cannot taste it until you are with your friends once more. Come with us."  
  
"The compassion over a friend in trouble, is that what you want? I'm not giving you that. Our compassion is our own concern. It only belongs to races, which believe that everyone is equal under one sky. Compassion's impossible for a life form like you. You care too much for yourselves. You destroy others for your own ends. You'll never get compassion even if you feel it from us, it's impossible and that's what eats at you."  
Daniel rose to his feet. He saw shapes hovering to his left, their voices silent suddenly. The whispering in his ears had stopped and he shook his head.  
  
He steeled himself for their attack but was surprised that none came. The shapes hovered close for a few minutes and then departed swiftly.  
  
Daniel sat on a rock and put his head into his hands, his glasses dangling from his fingers. He felt drained. He'd told the truth about what he felt. He knew he was right and yet he still felt guilt. Had he abandoned his friends simply because he couldn't bear to give the aliens a glimpse into his mind when he saw them suffering. He wasn't sure. He knew he would do anything to save either of them, including giving his life. He wondered if that was too noble a sentiment for the aliens to grasp. He also knew that he confused them and he saw his opportunity. He couldn't wait until dawn to move, he had to press on. He reached down and retrieved the flashlight and his weapon.   
  
"I promise I'll come back," he whispered silently towards the spheres in the far distance, and then he moved forwards towards the gate and towards help.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
  
" We've defeated the Goa'uld more than once, we can kick ass with you guys real easy!" O'Neill shouted at the two shapes which had emerged from the dark, and moved towards himself and Carter.  
  
The aliens reached eagerly towards the two officers, the name of the Goa'uld causing the reaction, the air taking on a decayed smell. O'Neill grimaced. Sam looked at the shapes. They hovered only feet away now, their eyes glinting, hard and cold, as stones shining wet on a beach. Sam drew her hand across her mouth to mask the nausea she felt.  
  
"We are interested, Jack O'Neill. Tell us more of the Goa'uld. Tell us how you made them suffer. Goa'uld have died here too. Too arrogant to realise that they were destroying themselves. Tormented until their parasites were torn from their bodies in self - mutilation. You think you can defeat us, Jack O'Neill. To plant but a simple thought into someone's mind, that is all it takes to destroy a culture, a world. We but suggested that their soldiers despise the symbiot within them until the torment was so great that they had to remove them. The Goa'uld were easy to defeat. They have not returned.  
Arrogance is a wall of self - destruction. It is easy to climb. The Goa'uld were arrogant."  
  
"And I suppose you're not?" Carter said, her face contorted with disgust, as she rose to her feet. "You make me sick! Don't tell them about the Goa'uld, sir. They just want to gloat."  
  
The aliens hissed at her. She could feel the foetid breath on her face and felt the usual wave of revulsion.  
  
Sam stood her ground, her lips held in a thin line of defence.  
  
O'Neill winced, putting his hand up to his officer's arm to try to stop her, but she shook it free.  
  
The talk of the deaths of the Goa'uld had caused a shockwave to course through her system. The memories of Jolinar were strong now. She suddenly felt Jolinar's pain at the memories of the Tok'ra who had passed through the gate onto this world. Spies within the Jaffa armies, sent to their deaths on this God-forsaken world. Sam shuddered as she stared into the eyes of one of the aliens, but she held her stance and pulled at herself inwardly. Somewhere, somewhere from Jolinar, she was being given the strength to do this, the strength of the Tok'ra.  
  
"We are not arrogant, Samantha Carter. We simply are. Here, all that is, belongs to us. Your very spirit belongs to us. In this place we take what is necessary. This place is our feeding ground. You are in our feeding ground and we shall feed. It is simple."  
  
"Hey, Captain, we're in a ghoul-town diner. Nice thought," O'Neill quipped as he rose to stand close next to Carter. He had a feeling they needed to stay ahead on this one.  
  
Laughter echoed around the chamber, swinging around in circles until it faded.  
  
"Well, hey I'm glad you like a joke, guys," O'Neill said. "But, you just don't get it do you? We're getting real tired of all this. Isn't it obvious to you that we're not gonna play your games? How hard is it for you to understand that you can't get to us?"  
  
"We tire of your pathetic attempts at freedom, O'Neill. This chamber contains the emotions of all that have gone before you. It is where your emotions must be channelled. Contained here are the spirits, the very essence of all who have ever trespassed on this planet. Stronger beings than you have sought to win their freedom. All have failed. Now you will show us your inner self, O'Neill. Now you will both show us what is within you. Then you will not want to exist. You will beg to die. It is time."  
  
Carter shuddered as she watched the aliens move to the other side of the chamber and settle. An energy filled the air. An energy they hadn't felt before. A dread started to come over her and she moved closer to O'Neill.  
  
"Think we're pissing them off, Captain?" O'Neill muttered sarcastically.  
  
"I don't like this," she whispered, fingering her knife tenderly.   
  
"Keep focused, Captain," he returned.  
  
A sudden memory, deep from Jolinar's past, shot to her mind unbidden. Her eyes widened as she felt it, took its message and acted swiftly.  
  
Taking the knife she turned to tear the bottom of the fabric of her black tee-shirt into small strips.  
  
O'Neill eyed her with interest and confusion. "You hot, or is this a plan, Captain?" he shot briefly, his eyes half on the aliens and half on her.  
  
"It's from something Jolinar knows," she whispered. "Can't explain it, Colonel, just do it," she looked earnestly at him and stuffed the small strips one by one into her ears, pushing them down hard, and then motioned for him to do the same. With her hands she indicated that they should watch but keep the cloth intact. O'Neill nodded, his eyes quizzical.  
  
The silence within the darkness of the room almost terrified Sam with its intensity. She struggled to find the strength she'd felt moments ago but somehow it was missing, lost with her hearing. Then she felt O'Neill move closer to her, his shoulder against hers. There they stood, their defence intact and waited.   
  
If they hadn't had their ears blocked, each would have heard the other's sharp intake of breath, as the chamber started to fill. It filled with the visions of the dead, of the souls tormented to their destruction within its walls. It filled with their terror and their tormented faces, and muted screams which assailed their ears through the depths of the cloth. And yet, the whispering from the aliens couldn't penetrate.  
  
  
Carter and O'Neill were effectively cut off from each other. Not being able to hear the other's words of comfort or words of reassurance was hard, and yet Sam knew she was right in doing what she'd done. She knew because Jolinar knew. Jolinar knew the history of this place, of that she was sure. If there was anything else in there, she had to retrieve it. Yet she couldn't. She'd had visions before but they came to her without her asking it, just as the last one had. Perhaps this was all that Jolinar knew of this hell-hole, and of the Goa'uld slaughter here. Sam wondered how many other races had died here, in one of these slaughter houses.   
  
Fingers suddenly closed around her hand, and she turned her head to look gratefully at O'Neill, his reassuring nod giving her a warmth which had been lacking in her mind before. They could fight this together. They could do it.  
  
  
  
"We have never used the Cragsh'a to such ends."   
  
"But their minds are closed to us. Without our words reaching their ears we are unable to influence these two sufficiently."  
  
"We have never encountered such stubbornness among the human species before."  
  
"They have evolved to a higher state of awareness than was anticipated."  
  
"Then in only a few millennia they may evolve further."  
  
"Perhaps. Some races have. Most did not thrive."  
  
"This is true. Though the humans may evolve in a different way."  
  
"Yes, but if they do, they may lose that which we seek now. That which we need. They may evolve as we did. They will need to feed. They would make a formidable opponent for us."  
  
"We can wait."  
  
"And of these two?"  
  
"There must be no trace, as it has always been. Since the Goa'uld walked this world in search of the energy source and with their arrogance brought us the gift of so many races, so many minds to feed on."   
  
"You must use the Cragsh'a to gain their emotions. It is the only method left available to us"  
  
"It is forbidden."  
  
"We are the only left who would know."  
  
"It is true but I am reluctant."  
  
"I am not. We have been unable to persuade the humans to take their own lives or each other's. I grow tired of waiting."  
  
"You are too impatient."  
  
"Perhaps, but there have been many souls who have refused to bend to our will across time. Their acceptance of their inevitable and slow death diminished the strength of their emotions. I am hungry for the strength of emotion these humans offer before they too lose their determination."  
  
"Very well. If they are unprepared to take their own lives or that of each other, we must do it for them. It is their compassion, the strongest of all the emotions which we crave. We will taste the compassion within each of them."  
  
"What of the other human, Jackson?"  
  
"He cannot leave by the travel device. The Goa'uld have made sure of that. We will track him once we have fed on these two. He will perhaps be more difficult than these two."  
  
"I agree. Let us finish here and then the hunt may begin"  
  
  
  
  
  
Images of death and images of terror played through the chamber, just as a tape reveals its secrets.  
  
The sounds were muted by the man-made plugs which Sam had ensured they had in their ears. For that, she would always be grateful to what remained of Jolinar within her. The host and the symbiot, always together, never able to go their separate ways even when death had separated them. Sam looked briefly to the ground and remembered Jolinar's compassion. She remembered it and she thanked her for it. She was still helping her, still coming to her aid in trouble. And yet what had she done for Jolinar? A brief time in her body and to what end? In the end it was Jolinar who had given up for her, so that she might live. That told her something about the person, about the woman who had given her so much, including her life.   
  
O'Neill felt Sam's fingers grip his hand tighter until her nails bit into his flesh. He squeezed in return and she relaxed, her eyes turning to him. Eyes filled with an empty acceptance that they would face this, whichever way it went, eyes which told him she was grateful for his presence, grateful for his strength. Grateful not to be alone.  
  
He nodded imperceptibly, a slight smile touching his lips and then fading. She was strong. Stronger sometimes than he felt. He certainly knew she was more headstrong and had the open compassion he often saw in Daniel. The two of them, compassionate headstrong people. And he? He knew the depth of his compassion, just didn't make it public quite so often as they did, didn't reveal it to them as often. That was just his way. He liked it that way.  
  
A gust of wind touched his face and broke into his thoughts. He looked up to see four alien forms moving across the floor at them at speed. He gripped Sam's hand tighter and moved backwards, his other hand flicking his weapon upwards and towards them. A pointless motion, he knew that, but it made him feel better anyway.   
  
The chamber's deathly visions had vanished from sight, a brief light now coming from far above them, illuminating the walls and allowing the pair to see the chamber in its entirety, the darkness diminished.   
  
Every wall was engraved with some sort of inscription. Many different languages, some of which Sam recognised, the rest totally alien to her. To the far side, a distance from where they were standing, a tall slim pedestal emerged from the floor slowly until it rested on the ground, a spherically shaped black stone at its centre on the top. From the stone a glowing, dark whirling cloud of sheer energy started to pulse outwards and up through an opening in the roof of the chamber.  
  
The four aliens sheered away from O'Neill and Carter and grouped behind the pedestal, their arms raised towards the light, which came in from above. The walls started to pulse somehow. O'Neill didn't know how but he could feel it. He could feel the ground rumble and move beneath them.   
  
Shards of energy pulsing, around the chamber, around the whole sphere.   
  
The aliens moved to the front of the pedestal and turned towards them. Each alien had one clawed hand on the black stone. The energy pulsed through their limbs and into their bodies. Each hand started to point in turn. The energy, a mere flicker at the end of each finger, sparking, ready to jump the gap between the pedestal and the two SG officers.  
  
Sam backed slightly, her head turning towards her commanding officer to seek his command. She pulled the strips of cloth from her ears, unable to stand in silence any longer. It was obvious the aliens weren't about to try more whispering tricks. They had something much more deadly in mind.  
  
O'Neill faced the aliens silently, raising his hand to pull the ear plugs free as Sam had. He was damned if he was going to face this without being able to shout some sort of taunt at them. Then he realised that he was accepting the fate they were offering and he pulled himself up straight. He'd never gone down without a fight, ever. He wasn't about to now.  
  
"Easy, Captain," he said as he saw Carter pull her knife from its sheath once more and stand defensively next to him, her face locked into determination.  
  
"Colonel, I'm not going to die in here without a fight," Sam said with conviction as she accepted that there was probably no way out.  
  
"Yeah," he replied quietly. "Me too."  
  
The aliens became almost as one, the energy dancing between them, lighting the end of the chamber until both O'Neill and Carter had to look down, the flares were so intense. And then it darkened again. Briefly. The four hands moved together, becoming a single flare of energy and then it flew, across the room, closing the gap between attacker and prey. Within seconds it arced high into the air and then raced down, splitting into two, the one heading straight for O'Neill, the other for Carter.  
  
"Together," O'Neill had time to shout before he threw himself away from the beam which came straight for him, dragging Carter in the same direction and away from hers. A cold wall of wind hit both of their bodies instead and knocked them sideways some ten feet.  
  
The alien shrieking was intense, their dismay heightened by seeing the beams shatter into two as they both hit the ground instead of their intended targets.  
  
Sam crawled across to O'Neill and they both made for the wall at the side of the chamber.  
  
"Jeez, what was that?" O'Neill mouthed as he drew air in a large gulp, the wind knocked out of him.   
  
Sam could hardly speak, swallowing frequently instead as she recovered her breath. She shook her head.  
  
"It's okay, if you explained it I doubt I'd understand anyway," he muttered.  
  
They both sat, their backs against the wall for a single moment before they saw the end of the chamber light again.  
  
"Looks like that upset them," O'Neill said ruefully, as he pulled Carter to her feet and they stood facing the aliens again.  
  
"Now why d'ya want to go and do that for?" O'Neill shouted confidently at his captors.  
  
To his surprise they stayed silent.  
  
"Hey, boys, lost your voices suddenly?" he added in a loud taunt.  
  
"If the energy is infinite, we could go on like this for hours, Colonel," Sam reminded him, standing firm in wait.  
  
"Sure, but look at it this way, Captain, we just bought ourselves more time," he said and smiled.  
  
  
Daniel had had to stop in the end. His energy levels were so low he found his eyesight misting over and he was stumbling so much in the dark, the going was impossible. He decided that the trees seemed to attract attention from the aliens, probably because they knew that life forms would seek shelter. He stayed out in the open and finally slumped down behind a large boulder which had a few smaller ones dotted around.   
  
The sleep, which washed over him wasn't pleasant. Disturbed by dreams. Dark dreams of death. Dark dreams of his friends crying out for him. He moved uncomfortably and restlessly. The dark mantle, which settled over him finally, stayed in place until the dawn.  
  
"I won't let you die out here, I won't leave you to the aliens," he cried out, turning in uncontrollable panic as he sat up sharply, sweat beading on his forehead.  
  
"And you shall not, Daniel Jackson," the voice droned back.  
  
Daniel sat up. The aliens had returned, of that he was sure. He thought he'd fooled them, or at least satisfied them that he wasn't worth the chase for the moment. He had to be wrong. He reached for his glasses and put them onto his face, squinting to see past the glare of the newly risen sun.  
  
Two figures stood over him, looking down at him. He blinked and then his face creased into a smile.  
  
"Teal'c," he said as he leapt to his feet and threw his arms around the startled form of the Jaffa, his staff held firmly in his hand.  
  
  
  
"Colonel, I think we're really upsetting them," Sam whispered to O'Neill as they stood together. "It's been about ten minutes and they're still just facing one another," she added.  
  
"Got some little surprise up their sleeves probably," O'Neill replied.   
  
Then, with a frighteningly co-ordinated movement, the aliens turned again towards them. They moved closer together this time, each finger joined as one until the clawed hands became a single weapon, pointing at the two of them.   
  
"Ready, Captain?" O'Neill muttered as he took his stand, Carter next to him.  
  
"Ready, Colonel," she replied steadily.  
  
The energy arced across the room, just as it had before, followed by the wind, the icy blast sending them both tumbling sideways, but this time the intensity of the blast sent them further apart from one another.   
The aliens shrieked loudly, voices joining together and increasing in intensity, their pleasure at splitting them obvious.  
  
Sam scrambled to her feet and started towards where she knew O'Neill was, his winded body dragging itself up the side of the chamber so that he could stand again, ready for the next onslaught.  
  
As he turned towards her, he saw from the corner of his eye, that the arc had split into two, and was dividing even as they moved. He watched with horror as one of the divided streams of energy raced across the ground and turned towards the figure of Sam Carter.  
  
He shouted the warning, heard it leave his lips and saw her turn her head just in time to see the blue energy beam descend upon her almost immediately. He thought he heard her scream, but he couldn't be sure. Time seemed to stand still.  
He watched as her foot was hauled up into the air and she was left dangling for a brief second, before she was swung around momentarily and then thrown some twenty feet into the air and caught again by the same beam. He watched mesmerised, horrified and helpless.  
  
As he watched the final fling of his officer's body across the chamber he felt his heart pound. His feet moving before he knew. Then he was across the chamber and almost at her side when another arc of energy, shot out from the globe and kicked her body sideways, away from him.  
  
"Damn it, leave her alone," he shouted at the aliens and then flung himself across Sam's crumpled form before the beam could reach her again. From the side of his eye he watched the beam change course as soon as he'd reached her and dissipate into the side of the chamber. The purpose was obvious. The aliens had achieved their end. They wanted to watch his emotions as he watched his officer die.  
  
"You bastards," was all he could think of saying as he turned her over to look at the damage.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
  
"Teal'c, from what you've told me about Feldos and these aliens, I'm not  
sure how we can get Jack and Sam out," Daniel said unhappily as they  
trudged across the landscape towards the spheres. He'd hoped to get all  
the answers he needed once he reached someone from SGC, and he felt  
disheartened after hearing all that Teal'c had told him about Feldos and  
its dark history.  
  
"We must try, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied slowly.   
  
"Yes, Teal'c, I want that more than anything, you know that. I just  
want to know how we get rid of pure energy forms, or at least get the  
others out from their clutches. I mean, I didn't see a way of us  
getting into the sphere once the entrance shut, and I still don't, but I  
would like you to look at it."  
  
"I will do so," Teal'c replied, his eyes concentrating on the horizon in  
front of them.  
  
"Do you know what condition they were in when you last saw them, Dr  
Jackson? Janet Frasier asked as she moved alongside.   
  
"I'm not sure. Sam was pretty much out of it the last time I saw them.  
Jack seemed fine. Well not exactly fine. I mean not himself. After  
all, he wouldn't normally knock his friend out just to get her inside  
somewhere, would he? I'm more worried about what they're doing to their  
minds right now," he answered squinting at the sun and frowning  
  
"I've got a full medical evac set up back at the gate and limited  
portable equipment and supplies in the pack," Janet said indicating the  
somewhat large pack on Teal'c's back. "I think I can stabilise almost  
any injury in the open, but I'd need to get anyone who's seriously hurt  
back to the Gate immediately," she added.  
  
"Let's just hope we don't need to do that," Daniel said with feeling,  
his heart lurching at the words.  
  
"We must use the hearing impairment devices as we near the aliens,  
doctor," Teal'c reminded her.  
  
"They're positioned in your helmets. Put them on as soon as we know the  
hostiles are around. Don't take them off unless you're sure it's safe  
and remember to try not to look at anything they might conjure up,"  
Frasier warned.  
"From what Teal'c has told us, it's important to stay focused on the  
task ahead and not be distracted by anything the aliens might throw at  
us," she added.  
  
"How's the arm?" Janet asked, glancing at Daniel.  
  
"Oh, that? Um...fine," Daniel muttered absently. His mind was focused  
on Jack and Sam, on what they were going through, and on the fact that  
he wasn't with them.   
  
"Guess if I had been with them I wouldn't have been able to lead you  
guys to them," he mumbled almost incoherently and without thinking that  
he was speaking aloud.  
  
"That is correct," Teal'c replied without turning. He was relieved to  
have found his friend and to know that there was a chance of getting the  
other two out alive. He wasn't sure how, he just knew they had to try  
and that gave him hope.  
  
"What's that?" Frasier said as she put her hand to her eyes to shield  
them and pointed at a large black cloud some distance from them.  
  
"It's near the spheres. Some sort of energy surge?" Daniel speculated,  
his eyes narrowing.   
  
"We must increase our speed, Daniel Jackson," warned Teal'c as he  
started to trot ahead of them.  
  
"Teal'c? What's up?" asked Daniel as he ran to catch up with him.  
  
"I believe it to be the energy source the Goa'uld sought to steal from  
the Feldori. It is told that this energy source is a part of what the  
Feldori are. That they take their very being from it and replenish it  
with that which they take from their prey." Teal'c replied, his face  
darkening.  
  
"And this would mean..."Daniel said, looking at his friend with interest  
but muted dismay.  
  
"The tales are not complete, Daniel Jackson. What is said is that when  
the energy source sends a darkness into the sky, the Feldori are feeding  
on their victims, increasing their own energy. We must get there before  
it is too late for Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter."  
  
The three broke into a run at that point, their eyes fixed on the sphere  
which was coming into view, a dark cloud of energy flowing upwards and  
outwards into the sky. As darkness began to cover the sky, it was  
mirrored in the eyes of the rescuers as they neared the sphere.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"God, Sam," O'Neill muttered as he gently turned the ashen face of his  
friend over. Her lips were turning a shade of blue he'd rather not see.  
He gingerly touched her neck for a pulse and felt it weak and thready,  
her breathing shallow. She flicked her eyes open for a second, pleading  
silently for him to stop the pain which she felt, and then they closed.  
To his dismay he watched a thin line of blood slip from the corner of  
her mouth.  
  
"You life sucking, blood sucking parasites," he shouted at the alien  
forms, which had grouped around him and were watching intently, their  
eyes gleaming at his distress, eagerly feeding on his compassion.  
  
"Is this what you wanted? Is this what it was all about? To watch us  
grieve over people we care about? Is that all you can't have? Well  
here, have it," he said as he pulled himself to his feet.  
  
And then he turned his gun and fired. Not at the aliens, not at their  
bodies, coursing with an energy he couldn't destroy. He fired instead  
at the only thing which seemed real, having substance, vulnerable to  
outside attack.  
  
  
Hidden from sight, through the years, away from the eyes of the  
afflicted who had stood in the chamber and met their deaths there. Now  
the Cragsh'a stood vulnerable. The law which had forbade its use for  
millennia, broken.   
  
It glowed silently in the corner. A monument to greed gone wrong. A  
monument to a species, evolved so far that their basic needs had  
swallowed them back into the abyss of a past life.  
  
O'Neill's weapon fired round after round, his anger and grief cascading  
around him as he watched the bullets fly across the chamber.  
  
The result was immediate. The pedestal's surface swung the bullets back  
immediately. They bounced off the strange, almost metallic walls and  
passed through the aliens, causing them no damage. Only one bounced  
back in the wrong direction and to the horror of the aliens it cracked  
the dark stone. The stone, the Cragsh'a, the centre of the energy  
source, its protection never dreamt of, its vulnerability never in  
question, forever protected from the tormented eyes which had stood  
before its masters, and now exposed.  
  
The leak of energy was immediate. It cascaded from the stone and  
reached the floor, swallowing the surface as it edged outwards in a roar  
of thunder.  
  
The screams of creatures who knew their fate was sealed, reached the  
roof of the chamber and expanded outwards.   
  
O'Neill covered his ears and bent forward to shield Carter from any  
fallout.  
  
He glanced across towards the pedestal and saw the black flow of energy,  
begin to dissipate, slowing until it crawled to a stop and shimmered  
momentarily.   
  
O'Neill put his head down as he felt the rumble. The chamber started to  
shake, a crescendo of energy blasting from what was remaining of the  
pedestal and finding its way to the stars and beyond. He moved closer  
to his stricken friend and tried to cover Sam's body with his own. She  
stirred slightly and then lapsed back into unconsciousness. O'Neill  
waited, his hand resting lightly on hers, willing her to live, willing  
her to hold on until help could arrive.  
  
Then silence. Then a breeze.   
  
He looked up and sat back on his heels. The chamber had gone. Its  
disintegration complete. The only thing remaining was the pedestal, the  
heart of it no longer visible.  
He looked around for the aliens. There was no sign.  
  
O'Neill pulled himself away from Sam and started to feel for her  
injuries. With the aliens gone, even if it was temporary, his priority  
was to stabilise his friend and give her a half-decent chance of  
surviving long enough to get her to the gate.  
  
"Damn, what I wouldn't give for a good med-kit right now," he muttered  
half to himself and half to Sam, willing her to regain consciousness.  
  
He put his face to her lips and felt a faint breath, cold, unsteady.  
Her pulse was hard to feel, her forehead bruised and cut. He felt  
gingerly along her limbs, gently checking for the signs of broken bones.  
As he touched her lower leg she moved and gasped for breath.  
  
"Easy, Captain," he murmured as he brushed her hair back from her  
forehead and watched her eyes open slowly, the haze clearing slowly as  
she squinted to look at him.  
  
"Colonel?" she whispered.  
  
"Yeah, it's me, Sam. It's me," he said gently.  
  
"The aliens?" she asked, swallowing.  
  
"Gone. For now. I think we beat them, Captain. I think we beat them.  
I just can't be sure," he said.  
  
Sam put her hand across her stomach and winced. Then she coughed and  
paled, wiping her hand across her lips, a red stain lingering on her  
fingers.  
  
"Take it easy," O'Neill said quickly, his heart sinking at the sight.  
  
"Get to the gate, sir," she said, her eyes closing as she spoke.  
  
"'Fraid that's not possible, Captain," he replied as he watched her  
lapse back into unconsciousness once more.  
  
  
The silence was broken by a faint sound behind him.  
  
O'Neill swung around.   
  
"O'Neill. It is over for you now. We have tasted your compassion. We  
have tasted Samantha Carter's embrace of death. You cannot escape. We  
would seek more from you now."  
  
O'Neill rose to his feet and stood in front of Sam.  
  
"Not had enough?" he said steadily and raised his weapon to waist  
height. His mind raced. He couldn't see the aliens but their voices  
were clearer somehow.   
  
"Where the hell are you?" he said as he turned around and around trying  
to find them.  
  
"We are right here, Jack O'Neill" the voices chimed.  
  
O'Neill turned to see the two shapes glide from behind the pedestal.  
Their eyes no longer gleamed, their movements slower, more laboured.  
Their bodies seemed to phase, becoming at times almost invisible.  
  
"Persistent, aren't you?" he taunted, his mind racing.  
  
"The Cragsh'a is destroyed, O'Neill. We need to survive. You have  
destroyed our future, we will not survive long."  
  
"Well forgive me if my heart doesn't bleed too much," he answered,  
glancing at Sam who was motionless next to him.  
  
"You owe us life, O'Neill. Your companion, Samantha, dies as we speak.  
Your emotions are clear. Your own death would be a welcome relief if  
she dies."  
  
O'Neill shook his head in disgust. "Parasites," he muttered angrily.  
  
"Your payment for destroying the Cragsh'a is to sacrifice yourselves for  
us, O'Neill. Your destiny is tied to ours."  
  
"If you ghouls think I'm about to sacrifice either one of us for you.."  
he said.  
  
"Your dead bodies would become our vessels. We cannot survive without  
the Cragsh'a to replace our energy levels. Your bodies would serve us  
well. All your emotions, all your thoughts would feed us. It is our  
desire and it is our right. With your bodies we could rebuild the  
Cragsh'a."  
  
"Well, this might come as a surprise, but I don't think so," O'Neill  
said shaking his head at them, his finger resting lightly on the  
trigger, his mind in turmoil. He had no shelter, no way out. Sam was  
injured and in no state to travel with him, and the two goons in front  
of him were about to use them both for some sort of vessel.  
  
"It is not your decision, O'Neill. It is ours."  
  
The shapes swung towards them slowly, their faces now visible, the  
features clear. They hovered closely and then moved above them.  
  
O'Neill sucked in his breath and bent to protect his friend, bracing  
himself for the final onslaught, whatever that might be. He knew in his  
heart that he'd run out of ideas, and he knew in his heart that he'd run  
out of luck. There was nowhere else to turn.  
  
Sam's whispered voice in his ear was weak but steady.  
  
"Colonel?"  
  
"It's okay, Captain. We've made it," he lied as he saw her nod slightly  
and close her lips, her eyes recognising the lie for what it was. She  
moved her fingers to squeeze his hand.  
  
"Thank you," she managed weakly before the shadow darkened above them.  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER NINE  
  
  
O'Neill could feel the energy start to swirl around him as he kept his head low and placed an arm across Sam's eyes, shielding her from whatever was about to happen.  
She stirred slightly, a groan issuing from underneath his arm.  
He wished he had something to give her for the pain, but Daniel had the med-pack with him. He wished he had something to stop her from dying. He wished....  
  
A sudden discharge of power knocked him sideways and away from Sam. He scrambled to his feet and back towards her, seeing the aliens phasing in and out of form, dropping down and then rising slowly above his friend, their energy dying, their world about to come to an end.   
  
"Leave her," he shouted and pulled his automatic free, aiming it towards them. He knew it would have no effect but he had to do something, had to tell himself that he'd done something.  
  
"Jack, down!"  
  
O'Neill swung around, his eyes wide at the voice, and then dropped.   
  
Daniel's voice echoed across from the rocks some twenty feet away from Sam. The towering form of Teal'c stood, legs astride as he aimed the Zat gun at the aliens. When the aliens phased into view Teal'c took aim and fired.  
  
The screeching filled the air, its intensity increasing with every second. Screeches of dismay and of loss. Screeches of a species so desperate for survival that they would disobey those very laws, which had governed their very existence. The creatures phased into view and their intensity brightened but they hovered some way off eyeing the newcomers with distaste and with interest.  
  
"The weapon has merely fed them," Teal'c said, his eyes narrowing as he looked upon the creatures of myth. The creatures of dark destruction, hated and despised by the Goa'uld, feared by all who dared to tread upon the planet. Teal'c braced himself to meet the Feldori.  
  
"Jeez, Daniel, Teal'c, am I glad to see you," O'Neill said and he wrapped his arms around his friend and hugged him close. "You get a little delayed by those guys?" he said thumbing in the aliens' direction. He slapped Teal'c on the back, the Jaffa raising an eyebrow at the enthusiastic display.  
  
"Something like that..." Daniel replied smiling with pleasure at seeing his friends alive. He threw his helmet to the ground and then looked at Sam, her pale frame lying stretched out behind O'Neill.  
  
"Jack?" he said looking at Sam, concern etched across his face.  
  
O'Neill shook his head and bent down to Sam. Janet Frasier was busy inserting a drip into the young woman's arm.  
  
"Doc?" O'Neill said as he kept his eyes on Sam's and took her hand.  
  
"She's not good. I need to stabilise her here and get her back to the gate immediately," Frasier replied as she started to feel along Sam's legs to locate any breaks.  
  
"Got it," she said, feeling the protrusion, and gently started to splint it. "Colonel, can you give me a hand?" she said passing O'Neill a splint. O'Neill had a sudden flashback of Sam splinting his own leg in the icy crevasse. He shuddered as he remembered the pain.  
  
"We've got to get out of here, Colonel and fast," Janet said as she eyed the two alien forms, hovering some distance from them. "She's got internal injuries by the look of it and a nasty concussion. I need to get her to surgery." Janet gently wiped the blood stain off the side of Sam's face and then dressed her head wound lightly.  
  
"Our weapons do not seem to be of use against the Feldori," Teal'c said slowly.  
  
"The Feldori?" O'Neill said, looking interested. He cocked an eyebrow at Daniel.  
  
Daniel nodded. "They seem to have quite a mythology attached to them, from what Teal'c tells me," he said.  
  
"Well I'd like to discuss fairy tales right now, but Carter here needs us to stay focused and mobile. Any suggestions as to how the hell we're supposed to get rid of these guys?" O'Neill said looking from Teal'c to Daniel.  
  
Teal'c stood patiently. "I do not believe that I have," he said.  
  
Daniel shook his head.  
  
"Colonel," Janet said and nodded at Sam, whose eyes were open.  
  
O'Neill bent down and felt Sam's hand on his wrist, pulling at him so that he bent close to her ear.  
  
She coughed slightly and then started to speak. Stuttering at first and then more coherently. She winced suddenly with pain and then pulled at the doctor's arm.  
  
Janet looked confused. "You want more pain killers?" she asked.  
  
Sam shook her head and swallowed hard.  
She tried to sit up and then clutched at her stomach, a wave of agony writhing through her, taking her breath from her. She struggled, struggled to say it. It was their only hope.  
  
"Hey, easy, Captain," O'Neill said, gently pushing her back.  
  
"This is important," Sam stammered, her voice clearer, and grabbed at Janet once more. "Laser..." she managed to get out.  
  
"The surgical laser?"  
  
Sam nodded. She ran her tongue across her lips for moisture.   
  
"It's standard kit for field surgery." Janet said as she reached into the pack beside her. She withdrew a box containing both a defibrillator and a small laser separately packed.  
  
"Good," Sam nodded and then pulled O'Neill closer.  
  
"Colonel, listen to me," she said, breathing to control the pain, breathing to get the words out.  
  
"Okay, Sam. Take it easy," O'Neill replied, beckoning Daniel across to listen.  
  
Daniel crouched down beside her and saw her eyes soften when she saw that her friend was all right.  
  
"Daniel," she managed.  
  
He reached across and squeezed her hand reassuringly.  
  
"The aliens... made up of energy...not sure what....but... photons in there somewhere." She stopped and shut her eyes temporarily, a wave of pain rushing through her. Then she continued.  
  
"The laser.. electrons...high energy level." Sam's voice faded and she looked pleadingly at Janet, willing her to understand what she wanted them to. Willing her to continue so that she could rest.  
  
Janet looked at Sam, her eyes narrowing as she looked from the aliens to the laser device and back again. Then Janet's voice took over. "The electrons in the laser want to drop back to a normal ground state..."  
  
Sam nodded, her eyes smiling. She knew she was going to get it. She'd done what she could, the rest was up to the others.  
  
"...And in doing so, each electron releases its excess energy by throwing out a photon. Each photon stimulates other energised atoms, causing a chain reaction of identical photons. Of course. If the aliens are energy based they may be photon based, or at least contain photons. The laser would cause the photons to be thrown out and dissipated. Captain Carter, that's brilliant," Janet said, smiling at her patient, who nodded silently and then closed her eyes.  
  
"It's our only chance, Jack. Get close enough to activate the laser within their energy mass and then get out of here as fast as possible. If it doesn't kill them it might slow them down," Daniel said.  
  
"We've got Captain Carter to get out of here, and speed isn't going to be easy," Janet pointed out ruefully.  
  
"I will ensure that Captain Carter arrives at the Stargate at speed," Teal'c said, his face determined.  
  
O'Neill eyed them all and then looked across at the aliens.   
  
"Okay, we do it. We give the Doc here and Teal'c a head start with Carter, and then we hit those sons of bitches where it hurts," he said.  
  
"Jack. What if it doesn't work? If Sam's got it wrong somehow," Daniel offered for thought.  
  
O'Neill looked at the aliens and then at the once more unconscious form of his friend. She'd never let him down. She'd always come through. Even now, she'd fought to give them all a chance, to tell them what to do.  
  
"She's not wrong," he said firmly and gave them all a look, which spoke volumes about what they were about to do.  
  
  
***  
  
  
O'Neill watched Janet Frasier don her helmet and pull the backpack across her shoulders. Then she turned and nodded.  
  
O'Neill reached down and, with Daniel's help lifted Sam from the ground and placed her into Teal'c's outstretched arms. Janet placed the plasma bag onto her stomach and clipped it there.  
  
"Colonel O'Neill, you will bring my staff weapon?" Teal'c asked as he looked across the horizon and steeled himself for what lay ahead.  
  
"It's in good hands, Teal'c," O'Neill said, and reaching down, lifted a helmet from the ground and placed it over Teal'c's head.  
  
The Jaffa looked uncomfortable and raised an eyebrow at O'Neill.  
  
"Precaution," O'Neill replied giving him a shrug.  
  
"We will depart," Teal'c said and started at a trot, Frasier keeping pace alongside.  
  
"Daniel, my boy, we've got work to do," O'Neill said, his mind turning away from Carter, away from the Stargate, and focusing on two creatures alone.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
"Congratulations Jack O'Neill, you have brought us a newer, healthier body in which we can rest and plan for the restoration of the Cragsh'a."  
  
O'Neill heard the voices and grabbed at the helmet which Frasier had left for him to wear. He pulled it over his head and gestured for Daniel to do the same.  
  
"You guys not learnt anything yet?" he taunted, just before he pulled it swiftly downwards. He fingered the chin strap and activated the small device which created a low comforting sound at his ears, masking any attempts by the aliens to infiltrate his mind or his thoughts. He then turned his back on the aliens and indicated for Daniel to do the same.  
  
O'Neill grabbed Daniel's shoulder and indicated the staff weapon which Teal'c had entrusted to his care. Daniel shrugged not knowing what Jack had in mind.  
  
O'Neill took the small laser and the staff and placed the laser at the end. He then demonstrated wrapping something around the laser to fix it to the end, and shrugged to tell Daniel he didn't have anything.  
  
Daniel nodded and reached into his pack withdrawing a roll of insulating tape they used for setting explosive devices to targets.  
  
Between them they taped the laser tightly to the far end of the staff.   
  
The aliens stayed hovering some fifty feet from their position, their energy levels ebbing, their interest in what the strangers were doing piqued. But they had no fear. The strangers were helpless, as all strangers had been helpless. Destroying the Cragsh'a had been an assault on their source of life but not on their being. It was done. They knew the strangers could do no more to hurt them now, and they continued to taunt and try to engage them in conversation. They continued to bait them until they knew they would succumb and die.  
  
O'Neill assumed they were probably engaged in verbally assaulting them, but the warm noise in his ears prevented the encroachment and prevented the aliens from reading their thoughts and emotions. He smiled to himself. For the first time in some twenty-four hours he felt back in control. It felt good. He touched Daniel and readied himself for an assault on them. Daniel reached across and flicked a tiny switch on the laser, watching a small light glow on its stem. Then they waited for the light to turn green. Frasier had told them, that as soon as the light turned green they would know the laser was charged.  
  
The aliens suddenly started to work their way towards them. O'Neill eyed the laser with irritation. Why wasn't it charged? He looked at Daniel whose face was beginning to show some degree of alarm. Daniel looked at him and shrugged, shaking his head.  
  
'Dammit', thought O'Neill. 'After all this, after all they'd been through, were they about to get fried because a piece of equipment didn't work? Frasier had recommended not firing it up until necessary. The longer the power left within the laser, the more likely it would be that it would affect the aliens. O'Neill ran his tongue across his lips, moistening them, his mouth dry suddenly. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, he could feel beads of sweat standing on his forehead. Time seemed to be suspended.  
  
He felt the insistent shoving on his arm before he noticed the light turn green, and then he saw Daniel grab the body of the laser and activate its tiny beam. He signalled Daniel to move aside quickly and then swung and moved forwards.   
  
The aliens didn't see the attack coming and didn't have time to react quickly enough. O'Neill pushed the end of the staff into the pulsating mass of energy, which made up the first alien and held it there. The pressure on the staff was unexpected and he was pulled to the ground immediately. He felt hands around his own and knew Daniel was there, helping him, holding the staff as tightly as they could. He couldn't see. The swirling mass of energy was so close it was electric. He saw blackness and odd strands of light sparking in front of his eyes, trying to reach him, trying to get to him. No longer recognisable as a shape, the energy, which made up the alien swirled and writhed as the laser gently did its work. The alien seemed trapped within the grip of the staff and its payload, its control of its own energy lost.  
  
O'Neill felt as if he were taking its entire weight, and for a single moment he felt his arms buckle under the strain. Then Daniel boosted his strength and raised the staff again. And the weight lessened, gradually at first, then it seemed to speed up. The air around them became thinner, the light filtrating through the energy cloud once more. As a shaft of sunlight hit their faces and made them look away, they saw the last of the dark energy flow from around the staff and downwards through the ground. And then there was nothing.  
  
The staff lowered slowly to the ground, as O'Neill rolled onto his back and sighed with relief. Daniel lay next to him, struggling to find his breath, exhausted from the sheer effort of what they'd done. They slowly took their helmets from their heads and O'Neill propped himself on his elbow.  
  
"Wow," he muttered, shaking his head. "Daniel, my boy, we did it," he added grinning at his friend.  
  
"Sam was right. She was right," Daniel said as he sat up and smiled triumphantly at O'Neill.  
  
O'Neill nodded and then cast his eyes behind him. He leapt to his feet within seconds and swung the staff around once more.  
  
Daniel followed his gaze and put his arms to the ground to push himself into a standing position once more, his eyes locked on the creature, which hovered some distance from them, its energy ebbing and flowing, its muted screeches hanging across the air around them.  
  
"Damn I thought we'd get both. Looks like we pissed this one off for killing its mate," O'Neill muttered under his breath.  
  
"Jack, recharge the laser!" urged Daniel as he reached for the end of the staff to reset the switch on the laser once more. How much power it had left he couldn't know, but Janet had told them the energy within the creature might help to boost the neodymium and give it more of a punch. Daniel flicked the switch to charge and waited.  
  
"You will taste death." The alien's chilling words hit both their ears as they reached for the helmets to drown them. "You have witnessed my sorrow at the loss of my mate. You will suffer the same sorrow at the loss of yours."  
  
The laser charged to green the second the alien's words faded. Daniel grabbed the staff from O'Neill's hands and rose from his crouching position. Before O'Neill could stop him, Daniel raced the distance from where he was towards the alien, without helmet and without cover.  
  
O'Neill's cry was lost to the air and he watched with horror as Daniel neared the alien. This time the alien had time to react to the threat and it did. The bolt of energy flew from the depths of the alien and blasted at the staff weapon, the energy flying down the staff weapon and reaching Daniel's hands as he held the staff tight. O'Neill heard him cry out as he dropped the staff and dropped to his knees in shock, his face registering surprise and pain.  
  
"Daniel," O'Neill called as he covered the distance between them and knelt beside him. He turned his hands over and winced. The energy flare had taken the skin from his palms. Before they had time to do anything, the alien moved away and turned towards the direction of the gate.   
  
"Witness your mate's death," it whispered to them and then it fled across the ground and disappeared at speed from their sight towards the Gate.  
  
Daniel turned quizzically towards O'Neill. "Jeez, what just happened then?" he asked. His shoulders were trembling slightly with the shock of the current he'd had pass through him. His eyebrows raised, his eyes hollowed with the pain, which burned on his hands. "Our mate?" he repeated, gritting his teeth as the pain crept up his arms and made him shudder. "Oh God," he uttered as the pain hit crescendo level.  
  
O'Neill touched him on the shoulder and squeezed gently, conveying the fact that he was there. He reached silently into the bag, which Janet Frasier had given him and pulled a small syringe loaded with painkillers from it. He plunged it into Daniel's arm and then roughly bandaged the two hands.  
  
"Jack? The alien said 'your mate'? What or who is it referring to?" Daniel persisted, wincing at every touch, the extreme pain ebbing slightly.  
  
Jack continued with the job at hand, his eyes lowered, attending to what he was doing.   
"Carter," came the muted response.  
  
"But why? She's no one's mate," Daniel persisted with surprise.  
  
"I know, Daniel. And you know that, but the damn creeps don't," O'Neill said as he hauled his friend to his feet and grabbed the staff weapon from the ground. "The alien has mistaken our concern for her when she was hurt as being a mate. Maybe, just because she's the opposite sex or something. Don't ask me why, Daniel," he said, feeling a sense of guilt, though he couldn't think why.   
  
Daniel's eyes narrowed at his friend's reticence.  
  
"Why? Um how..did the alien manage to blast us? I mean before, they never physically touched us?" Daniel continued, changing the subject, as Jack grabbed his helmet and Daniel's.  
  
"Beats me. Maybe it thinks it can do anything now their damn energy source is dead. Maybe it changed it in some way. I dunno, Daniel. I just know it's after Teal'c, the doc and Carter and we're some way behind," O'Neill replied, setting Daniel's helmet on his head and pulling on his own.   
  
Daniel reached across a bandaged hand and stopped him from pulling it right down.  
  
O'Neill turned, surprise registering in his eyes. "Daniel?" he said.   
  
"Jack. You..and Carter....?" The sentence was unfinished, and its implication hung in the air.  
  
"Daniel...you know the answer to that," O'Neill retorted as Daniel raised an eyebrow. "She's our friend. I care about her as a friend," he replied, knowing Daniel had suspicions and hell, hadn't he himself? He'd begun to wonder in that chamber what he felt for her. He'd begun to wonder and then dismissed it as unrealistic, impossible and all the other negatives you could put with something which couldn't happen, not in this lifetime, even if he wanted it.  
  
And then it struck him. Of course, having thoughts even if they were impossible or fantastic, was irrelevant to the aliens. They'd listened into his mental thought processes and found what they wanted and what they interpreted. O'Neill mentally put his head in his hands and let his fingers fill with regret. To Daniel he appeared solid in what he said. To himself he lied. To the aliens he'd provided a perfect victim, a perfect revenge attack for what he and Daniel had just done. He gripped the staff and pulled the helmet down, his teeth gritted in determination.  
  
He pointed to the gate and began to run. Daniel hesitated for just a second, trying to analyse what he'd seen register on his friend's face and in his eyes. Despite his outward strength, he knew he'd glimpsed his friend's fear.  
  
***  
  
Teal'c stopped as they drew nearer to the gate, Janet Frasier's breaths coming in gasps as she reached his side. The gate and DHD were unguarded and Teal'c put Carter to the ground next to the DHD, pulling himself up straight and flicking the energy weapon to his side. He pulled off his helmet for a moment and reached across to lift Janet's off.  
  
"Doctor Frasier, please stay with Captain Carter," he said, pulling the helmet back as he started towards the gate area, his back lowered, his knees bent. He took cover behind the rocks and searched the immediate vicinity with his eyes. He knew he was too near, when the Goa'uld larva within him lurched in agony in reaction to the device still attached to the gate.  
  
He grabbed at his stomach and moved slowly back to Janet Frasier. He pulled off his helmet and flung it to the ground.   
  
"I will need the armor, doctor" he said, breathing heavily, as he crouched beside her, letting the larva settle once again.   
  
"It's on the evac vehicle," she replied and pointed to the vehicle, which sat to their right well away from the DHD.  
  
Teal'c nodded and turned to move towards it and then he froze. The alien form hovered over the vehicle, its eyes gleaming even though its energy ebbed with each phase. It had waited for them to arrive. They were slow, but it had waited. Next to the truck lay several lifeless bodies. Teal'c's eyes narrowed. The SG unit which was guarding the gate. The technicians were nowhere to be seen.  
  
Teal'c turned and retreated to the doctor. "I am unable to reach the suit, Doctor," Teal'c informed her and indicated with his eyes his problem.  
  
Janet Frasier rose to her feet and felt a cold hand grip her heart. She knew that if it chose to destroy the suit, they'd never get Teal'c back home, and without Teal'c she couldn't get Carter through the gate on her own.  
  
"The being is approaching," Teal'c said, pulling his energy weapon to his shoulder and readying it.  
  
A blast of energy shot out from the alien's direction suddenly, and the two helmets which lay on the ground, disintegrated.  
  
Teal'c fired immediately but watched with some dismay as the energy was absorbed.  
  
"They appear to be able to use their energy as a weapon. They have changed." Teal'c said, his eyes registering the surprise, which he felt.  
  
"We don't stand a chance," whispered Janet as she crouched beside Sam. "Not without the laser which the Colonel has," she added.  
  
The alien hovered, cutting off the route to the gate, shards of blue energy creeping from its very essence as it phased in and out, weakening but not giving in. It needed a new vessel, one which would provide an energy source, one which would rebuild the Cragsh'a. It could have chosen one of the SG unit which remained at the gate. It could have. But it had the taste of revenge in its heart and it wanted to feel it. It wanted to punish O'Neill. It moved towards them, its mind set on Sam, its memory of tasting her acceptance of death fuelling it.  
  
Teal'c stood in front of the doctor and her patient and prepared to meet a mortal enemy. As the alien neared he fired again. The alien was thrown off balance and shrieked loudly, disorientated but absorbing the energy still. Teal'c raised his weapon to fire again.  
  
The figure, which raced past him and fell to the ground beneath the alien took him off guard.  
  
O'Neill pushed the staff upwards and into the energy mass which was left of the alien.   
"Eat this," he shouted loudly as he held firm, the alien writhing above him.   
  
"Help him, Teal'c," Daniel shouted as he dropped beside the Doctor.  
  
Teal'c didn't need any more urging. He covered the distance between himself and O'Neill within seconds and fell to the ground, grabbing the staff and taking the weight.  
  
The screeching filled the air and then ebbed. As the laser did its final work, the energy dissipated until it flowed as one into the ground and ceased.  
  
Teal'c turned his head to look at O'Neill.   
  
"Thanks," O'Neill mouthed, his eyes softening, as Teal'c got to his feet and held out a hand for the Colonel to take.  
  
"It is nothing, O'Neill," Teal'c replied and reached to take the staff from O'Neill's hands, the laser still at its end, the tape around it melted and disintegrating.  
  
***  
  
Teal'c and O'Neill moved to the evac vehicle and checked the bodies of the SG soldiers. Then they noticed the two technicians behind a boulder, their eyes wide in horror, their faces registering the fear, which they had felt in death. They found the charred remains of the helmets close by. Teal'c lifted each body into the interior of the vehicle.  
  
"Daniel, dial us home," O'Neill ordered as his friend fingered the DHD and tapped in the coordinates with difficulty, his bandages awkward, his hands painful.  
  
The evac vehicle moved slowly forward. The interior loaded with the dead bodies of the SG unit and technicians. Teal'c sat in his armor suit filling the surface at the top, with Janet Frasier walking beside him supporting him. Daniel stood the other side, his hands resting on the Jaffa as the vehicle moved slowly through the gate towards Earth's coordinates.  
  
As O'Neill moved onto the ramp, Carter lying in his arms, he turned to look at the planet surface briefly.  
  
"Godammit, you're going to regret what you put my people through," he said quietly as he turned towards the wormhole and stepped through.  
  
***  
  
The missile slipped neatly through the wormhole and delivered its deadly nuclear payload to Feldos and its gate.  
  
The staff stood silently in the gate room watching. The air was heavy with memories and regret. Each officer stood with head bowed until the camera on the missile broke through the other side and gave them a last fleeting glance at the DHD and its surroundings.  
  
Carter lay in her bed, her stomach sore from the recent surgery, and watched the transmission. She smiled as her Commanding Officer entered the room and sat down next to her.  
  
"How's life, Carter?" he said, smiling. He placed a small spray of flowers on the bedside table awkwardly. She let a smile play on her lips at his embarrassment.  
  
She nodded. "Fine," she said. She actually looked less than fine but who was counting.  
  
"Colonel?"  
  
"Yep," he replied looking at her eyes. He couldn't place what was mirrored there.  
  
"Did you tell them about the other gates the aliens mentioned?" she asked.  
  
"Yep," he replied. "They're going to try to find them. If we do, we'll nuke them too," he said and thought for a single moment. "You did good, Captain," he said softly.  
  
"Thank you, sir," she replied, blushing.   
  
O'Neill pulled himself off the bed and walked to the door.  
  
"Colonel," she called.  
  
He turned.  
  
"You did good yourself, sir," she said and felt a glow as he acknowledged the compliment with his eyes and left the room.  
  
  
THE END 


End file.
